Helpless
by Dude13
Summary: Despite past ordeals she and the others have faced, Frankie has always come out with her little family intact. But now, as what's most precious to her becomes threatened yet again, it appears her extraordinary luck may have finally run out- COMPLETED
1. Prologue

**AUTHOR'S WARNING**: If you haven't read More Than My Friend or Wishing Only Wounds the Heart yet, then you're not going to have any idea what's going on.

Okay, so, here's basically what I've been working on for the last month and a half or so, after a couple inquiries or requests about another multi-chaptered story. I'm not exactly promising another Wishing Only Wounds the Heart or anything, to be honest, but nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this particular idea thats been sitting on the back burner of my mind for some time.

Disclaimer: I don't own Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.

* * *

**Prologue**

"Metal Mouth! Metal Mouth! Metal Mouth! Metal Mouth!"

The pack of girls eagerly started to chant the very instant the extremely unfortunate sixth-grader exited out the main entrance of the redbrick middle school, allowing her brand-new braces to gleam brightly in the golden afternoon sunlight.

If there was no bigger impediment to the start of a new school year than being the first one in her class to get the dreaded corrective orthodontic gear, she didn't want to know as the all-too-familiar sense of embarrassment surged through every ounce of her being. Once again finding herself the target of someone's cruel amusement for the umpteenth time that day, the child self-consciously clapped a hand over her mouth as she desperately tried to ignore her tormentors.

Alas, her efforts were for naught, for no sooner had she passed them by, her schoolmates got up and followed, all the while cackling like a coven of witches at her appearance.

"Hey Metal-Mouth, what happened? Did you try and eat a bike chain or something?" one teased, to which the others giggled madly. As the insults dug deep like spears, the sixth-grader immediately sniffled a little, despite her best efforts to resist the taunt's cruel sting.

"Ooooh, what's this? You gonna cry, Metal-Mouth? Huh? Watch out, we wouldn't want your braces to get rusty, would we? Would we?"

Frantically, the source of their fun tried to pick up her pace a little in a feeble attempt to get away. Unfortunately, she barely took three paces more when an untied shoelace foiled her getaway. With a squeal of dismay, the child fell tumbled flat on her stomach, much to the pack's utter delight. As their prey lay where she fell, ready to die of embarrassment, the gang broke out hooting with laughter.

"Heeheehee!" one sniggered in delight. "What's the matter? Teeth too heavy to keep your balance now, Metal-"

_THWACK_!

"_OW_!" the girl shrieked as a well-aimed dirt clod suddenly rocketed seemingly from nowhere to smash into the side of her head in a miniature explosion of soil and pebbles. Before her cronies could so much as register what had just happened, no less than four more of the makeshift missiles rained down in quick succession, each one scoring a direct hit as the group erupted into a chorus of wails and screams.

"_OUCH_!"

"Who threw that? _OW_!"

"_YEOW_! My ear!"

"Hey, quit it! Quit it! _OW_! Knock it off!"

"_OW_! _OW_! Stop it!"

Despite their desperate pleas for mercy, the mysterious attacker's barrage continued on, swiftly battering the ambushed group into submission as the sixth-grader brushed the jet-black curls from her eyes and just watched dumbly in astonishment. Within moments, her tormentors had been completely routed, and shamelessly they made a frantic withdrawal. As they retreated into whatever refuge the school building could provide, all the while screeching shrilly to the high heavens, someone cried worriedly from nearby,

"Oh jeez, are you okay?"

The sixth-grader jerked her head back around just in time to watch her rescuer step out from behind the cluster of bushes from where she had launched her bold assault. After taking a moment to wipe her hands on her skirt and to brush a few leaves from her bright scarlet locks, she hastily jogged over to where her classmate still lay sprawled upon the ground.

"Hey, are you okay?" the redhead repeated, with deep concern stamped over her features. The other girl only nodded dumbly as she allowed her savior, no older than her, helped her back to her feet.

"Yeah…yeah, I think I'm okay…" she stammered dazedly. "Th-th…th-thank you for-"

"It was nothing." The redhead replied calmly. "My grandma always says bullies are usually just a bunch of wimps anyway. She just says you have to show them who's boss, Kathy, and-"

"Huh?" the black-haired sixth-grader just murmured. The redhead gawked at her bewilderedly, caught off guard by the reply.

"Kathy…that's your name, isn't it?" she asked cautiously.

"Oh…_oh_!" Kathy gasped, and immediately went bright crimson with embarrassment as recognition dawned upon her. "That's right, you're in my…my…uh…oh, my math class, aren't you? Yeah! You're…you're…your name's Fran…uh…I'm sorry, I should know this, it's…it's…Francesca, right? No, _ackpth_! It's…it's…Frances! You're Frances Fos-"

The redheaded teen just stuck out her tongue with a light groan of exasperation. "_Blech_! That's only what the teacher's stupid attendance sheet says."

"Wait, what?"

As the other child became awash with confusion, "Frances" just grinned warmly at her puzzled expression and extended her arm to give her a pat on the shoulder.

"Just call me Frankie…"

* * *

Just a quick note - Kathy's a bit of a pseudo-canon character, as she has been in the show, but only when Frankie's been talking to her on the phone, as in _Frankie My Dear_ or _Bus the Two of Us_. 

Anyway, thank you for reading! All feedback is appreciated!


	2. Chapter 1

Could there possibly be anything more beautiful than the veritable natural symphony that was an early Sunday morning?

If there was, the sleepy young woman could not think of it, nor did she exactly want to as she contently lay half-awake and curled up under the warmth of her covers. Wearing a dozy grin, she idly listened to the trilling of the song sparrow, the melodious chirping of the robin, the rustle of the leaves in the light breeze, the gentle pitter-patter of bare feet upon the hallway floor…

"Huh?" she grunted groggily in confusion. However, just when her mind finally registered this last particular noise, instantly, all traces of her drowsiness were obliterated as she was suddenly beset by a wave of panic. Before she could even do so much as more one muscle, though-

"GOOD MORNING!"

_WHUMP_!

"OOF!" Frances "Frankie" Foster grunted in extreme discomfort after a veritable blur of a squealing nine-year-old child burst kicked open the door, dashed into the room, and without pausing for so much as an instant, leaped upon the bed and catapulted himself atop her, nearly forcing her eyes to pop clear from their sockets under the force of the landing. Unfortunately, her abrupt wake-up call was still quite far from over, and no sooner had he made his rough landing, the brown-haired little boy hopped off and started to shake her playfully.

"Wake-up! Wake-up! Wake-up! Wake-up!" Mac chanted happily between fits of laughter as he roused her vigorously. "Wake-up! Wake-up! Wake-up! Wake-"

"Okay, okay, I'm up! I'm up! I'm up! I said I'm up, all right?" Frankie whined crankily as she groggily managed to sit up, upon which she seized hold of her human alarm clock and gingerly deposited him aside.

"Cripes, pal," she groaned as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Yesterday I told you to _wake_ me at seven-thirty, not break me!"

"Oh come on, you're _fine_." the child only chuckled as he sat Indian-style upon her mattress.

"Easy for you to say," his guardian grumpily shot back, pausing in mid-sentence to let loose with a gaping yawn. "You weren't just used as a human landing pad by one very, _very_ rude little boy. Jeez, pal, why in the world did you-"

"Hey, you only asked me to get you up before eight...you didn't say _how_." Mac countered with a cheeky grin. However, only a moment later he realized his victory was far from absolute when after a short pause, Frankie suddenly broke out smiling fiendishly from ear to ear.

"Ohhhh…. so _that's_ they way we're starting off our mornings now, huh?"

"No, wait, I just-_WAUGH_!" Mac yelled as she scrambled to her knees, effortlessly reached over and nabbed him by his sides. Despite the little one's youth, the caretaker still held the advantage when it came to speed, agility, and worst of all, weight. Moving like a flash, Frankie almost lazily flipped him onto his stomach before she limply fell forwards, effectively pinning him beneath her lanky figure.

"Ha! Not as funny from the other end, is it?" she giggled as her captive kicked his little legs and scrabbled furiously upon the bed sheets in a vain attempt to escape. "Huh? Is it?"

"Lemmego! Lemmego! Before you squish me!" Mac yelped before involuntarily bursting into laughter as his tormentor started to mercilessly tickle the back of his neck.

"It's not squishing you, it's waking you!" she tittered mischievously. "After all, what works for one Foster works for _all_ Fosters, right? I see the bags under your eyes, mister, don't deny it! Someone's still a widdle sweepy!"

"Get off! Get off! Hahaha! Stoppit!" he squeaked as he vainly tried to fight her off.

"Eh? Is that the sound of yawning I hear?" she cackled deviously as she started behind his ears. "Ooooh, someone's still not completely awake yet? We'll take care of _that_!"

"Hahaha! Okay, okay, I give up! I give up!" the squirming little one yelped as he hastily surrendered. "I give-"

Suddenly, their early morning roughhousing was brought to sudden halt by a long, almost eerie, drawn-out moan suddenly echoed from next door, as if someone had carelessly deposited a wounded soldier there the night before. Instantaneously, Mac ceased his wriggling and shot his adoptive "big sister" a puzzled glance.

"…What's _that_?" he asked curiously. Frankie looked back and merely answered calmly with a fat smile,

"It's looks like Sleeping Beauty has finally awoken."

As she hoisted herself off the child and clambered out of her bed, the little boy's eyes widened a little as comprehension quickly struck. Wordlessly he hopped to the floor and scampered along at the nightgown-clad caretaker's heels as they traveled to the room next door, which according to Mr. Herriman's records, was supposed to be currently vacant.

The lump in the bed of the "spare room" however clearly said otherwise, or more specifically, grunted otherwise as it tossed the sheets over its head to try and block out the brilliant golden rays seeping through the windows. Giggling like a giddy schoolchild, in one clean movement Frankie deftly pulled the bed sheets back, revealing a most curious spectacle.

Another young woman, about the resident caretaker's age, lay in a messy sprawl atop the bed, with limbs askew. Instead of being garbed in traditional sleep ware of any sort, she instead wore a crumpled dark brown denim skirt and matching vest tossed over a wrinkled white T-shirt. As she slowly began to awake with a piteous whine, Frankie just leaned in and cooed sweetly like a mother waking up a drowsy child,

"Good morning, sunshine."

The muzzy woman finally managed to raise a hand and brush away a few curly black strands of hair, reveling a pair of half-opened, and shockingly bloodshot eyeballs. As Frankie just grinned sweetly, her fellow twenty-three-year-old wordlessly attempted to take stock of her surroundings for a few seconds before finally grunting unhappily as realization his her like a sack of bricks,

"…Oh, for the love of...not _again_."

As Frankie tossed back her head and burst out snorting uncontrollably with laughter, Mac politely greeted the familiar face with a respectful nod and a warm grin as he peered from behind his guardian.

"Hi, Kathy."

"Huh?" Kathy grunted as she glanced his way. "What the he-_oh, jeez_!"

Immediately the mortified girl grabbed a pillow and tossed it over her face just in time to conceal the brilliant blush that had set her cheeks aglow.

"_Frankie_!" she let loose with a muffled wail. "In the name of everything holy, why do you _always_ have to let him see me like this? _Why_? I look like total garbage!"

"Because," the redhead only giggled fiendishly and passed the child a wink as she affectionately ruffled his hair. "It's funny."

As her best friend continued tittering uncontrollably like a fool, Kathy elicited a drawn-out groan as her intense embarrassment skyrocketed.

"Christ, I can't believe I did it…_again_…for God's sake, every other Saturday night we go out…" she lamented morosely. "Why do I _always_ wake-up here?"

"Hey, don't blame _me_." Frankie replied calmly as she teasingly flicked a curly lock. " You're the one who kept forgetting how many drinks you already had last night, and then tried to go ask out a guy with like, three piercings in his nose alone, and-"

"Stop! Stoppit!" Kathy whined in utter dismay as she tried to clamp the pillow tighter over her head. "You mean I tried to come on to…"

"Well, that's what it looked like." Frankie quickly tried to assuage her friend's humiliation, but to little avail. "I dunno, maybe you just-"

"Maybe I lost track of how much I already drank yet _again_ and tried to make a pass at…" she began to reply sarcastically before she elicited another sour groan. "Oh Lord Almighty , Mac's _still_ here listening to me, isn't he? Jeez..._why_ couldn't you just drop me off at my apartment last night?"

"Because _someone_ pretty much passed out halfway to the car." Frankie explained, patting the mortified woman's back a little. "And again, I had enough trouble finding your car keys as it was on my own, let alone trying to find where you keep your keys for home."

At this point, Kathy peeked out from behind her makeshift cover and admitted ruefully,

"...Good point."

Finally realizing that whiningly bemoaning her predicament wasn't going to get her anywhere, the hung-over young woman slowly started to clamber upright into a clumsy sitting position, while struggling to ignore her pounding headache.

"Yikes, it's like fifty jackhammers going off in there…" she mumbled as she tenderly rubbed her throbbing skull before frowning apologetically and swallowing her pride. "Me and my stupid weekend routine…Frankie...I'm sorry...why my memory's the first thing that goes the second I take one sip, I have no idea, I-"

"At least I got a nice work out lugging you up the stairs." Frankie only joked. "So last night didn't go so well; so what? Don't worry about it, Kath, everyone makes mistakes-"

"And some of us are stupid enough to make them over and over…and _over_..." Kathy cut in somberly. "Cripes, if you had a dollar for every time I had to spend the night here in a wasted stupor-"

"Trust me, I still wouldn't be quitting my day job anytime soon." she laughed. "Kathy, it's okay, honest."

"I…I guess…" Kathy reluctantly agreed, then added softly a wan smile, "Thanks again for-"

"It was _nothing_." Frankie answered kindly. "Let's just try and be more careful next time, okay?"

"Yeah…yeah, all right." Her friend groaned and winced involuntarily as her head continued to ache. "Oh God, this is _ridiculous_…I mean, for Pete's sake, I work for the depar-"

"Kathy, we all know where your work, and I'm _not_ going to sit here while you beat yourself up for the next half-hour." Frankie gently persisted, rolling her eyes a little in exasperation. "So you lost track and drank a little too much one night, okay? I've done it too; for the _last_ time, it's all right."

"Yeah, yeah…I know..." came the murmured reply as she finally put a halt to the merciless self-berating. "So...same drill?"

"Same drill." The redhead said as she gave her charge a gentle nudge. "Mac, go and fetch a pair of sandglasses, some jeans, and clean shirt from my room, 'kay? Oh, and go get Bloo to go find out where the bunny is right now, all right?"

"Yup, I know!" The child replied as he obediently darted off, leaving his guardian to tend to her disheveled friend.

"If Herriman asks, you stopped by extra early to join us for breakfast, got it?" Frankie prepped. The other young woman nodded with a grin.

"Yeah, I remember, I remember…same as always...I sure as hell do love 'visiting' here Sunday mornings, don't I?"

Frankie chortled at the wisecrack and patted her gently on the shoulder, and the two wordlessly smiled at one another for a few moments before something rather unsettling crossed one of their minds.

"Wait…" Kathy whimpered as her expression grew almost outlandishly distorted with revulsion. "That guy you said I was trying to put the moves on…really…he honestly had three nose piercings?"

"One of them was like a great big door knocker on his face…that, and he had some of the funkiest tattoos I've ever seen, too."

"Oh, for crying out loud…"

* * *

"…Seriously guys," Kathy lamented as she sauntered out onto Foster's front porch, garbed in her borrowed attire with her own wrinkled clothes from the night before tucked in a neat bundle under her arm. "I don't know how you can keep going through this over and-" 

Her best friend merely grinned and flashed a sly wink to the nine-year-old strolling by her side. "What do you mean? There's absolutely nothing wrong with having a dear friend stop by on a beautiful Sunday morning to see some dear friends. Isn't that right, pal?"

"Nope, absolutely nothing wrong at all." Mac laughed as he nodded furiously. Kathy lowered the sunglasses and glowered.

"Newsflash, I doubt either of you are in the running for an Academy Award this year. C'mon, the rabbit's not around, you can drop that stupid act now."

"Now what fun would_that_ be?" Frankie just chuckled mischievously as she made a face.

Kathy, as the equally mature young woman she was, promptly fought fire with fire as she stuck out her tongue, forcing the battling duo to helplessly dissolve into a fit of the giggles in a matter of moments.

"Haha! Okay, okay, you win." Frankie conceded with a chortle as she removed a set of car keys from her pocket and handed them over. "Think you have it in you to make it back home?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure." Her companion replied with a weak grin. "I'll give you a call when I get back, okay? Honestly, thank you so much for-"

"Kathy, read my lips; it's _no_ problem at all." The caretaker chortled as the two embraced quickly. "Get home safely, all right?"

"All right, Mommy, and I promise not to talk to any strangers on the way either." Kathy replied teasingly. "I'll call you later. Bye Mac, thanks for all your help too, kiddo!"

"Bye!" Mac bade his farewell with a smile as she gave him a quick affectionate pat on the head. With this, Kathy turned about and trotted back to the small, green sedan that had definitely seen better days sitting parked by the front gate. In just a matter of moments, she was in the car and was driving off down the street, though not without taking care to blast a few farewell honks on the horn first.

"Another Sunday morning as usual, huh?" Frankie cracked as she watched their guest vanish from sight. Once Kathy was gone from view, Frankie spun about and casually sauntered back inside. "C'mon, we better get started on cleaning up what's left of breakfast before Fuzz-butt throws a hissy-fit about-"

_THUD_.

The instant she heard the unmistakable sound of something tumbling to the ground behind her, she immediately froze dead in place as she was simultaneously struck completely mute with panic. For a few excruciatingly long moments, she was unable to move a single muscle as a surge of horror temporarily overwhelmed her.

The instant her initial shock wore off though, Frankie hastily spun about and wrenched the front door back open, as she sent prayer after to prayer heavenwards that her original horrific assumptions were dead wrong. Alas, her pleas to the divine came much too late, and for a few moments she could've sworn her heart skipped a few beats the second she glanced outside only to see a little boy lying in a motionless heap.

"_Mac!_"


	3. Chapter 2

Pure terror surged through every ounce of her body to the point of utter excruciation as her maternal instinct automatically forced her to assume that the very worst had just occurred. The atrociously panicked young woman wasted not a single second and darted to the fallen little boy's side at a pace most champion sprinters would have trouble matching. With her face as deathly pale as fresh snow, Frankie dropped to her knees and gathered the child into her arms.

"Mac? Mac, are you okay?" she yelped hoarsely, before pausing to place her head upon his chest in hopes that she would hear a steady heartbeat. "Mac are-"

The redhead stopped dead in mid-fret as soon as she glanced up and saw much to her immense surprise that not only was he obviously conscious, but he also was now gazing wide-eyed in confusion at her as if she were completely out of her mind.

"I…I think you accidentally closed the door on me." Mac said softly, then asked in genuine concern, "Are _you_ okay?"

Once the truth dawned upon her that she had just made a mountain out of a molehill with her excessively immense overreaction, Frankie immediately began to feel the blood surge to her face as she was beset with humiliation.

"Oh…I'm sorry…" she managed to stammer as she loosened her hold, allowing Mac to clamber back to his feet. "Yeah…you're right, I _did_ close the door right behind me when I…yikes, I'm sorry pal…I just thought that…y'know, at first I was afraid you had a…"

"Heart attack?" Mac calmly finished. Immediately she cringed a little as a wave of memories concerning some certain far-too-recent events flooded back to her.

"Yeah…" she affirmed reluctantly. "I…don't know why, I just panicked, and I…"

As she stammered on, the boy just broke out into a warm smile as he quickly traced his hand over his chest, pointing to where a large scar lay hidden from sight.

"Frankie, I'm all better, remember?" he reassured. "You don't have to-"

"Oh, _no_!"

Before the child could say a single word more, Frankie elicited a horrified cry, nabbed him by the arm and deftly pulled him close. After closely examining the bemused child for a moment or so, she let loose with a guilty moan as she enveloped him into a tight hug.

"Frankie, what is it?" he demanded bewilderedly. "I'm okay-"

"No, no you're_ not_!" she objected glumly. "Just _look_ at the size of that black eye!"

"Huh?" Mac grunted, until he finally noticed the dull ache in his rapidly swelling right eye.

"Oh…yeah, you did..." he admitted softly with a slight wince. "Ow..."

Frankie groaned, posing as the model of abject misery as she stroked his head furiously. "Poor little guy, you probably got hit right with the door handle, didn't you? I'm sorry, Mac, I'm sorry, if I just hadn't let my mind wander for a second or so, I-

"Frankie! Frankie!_ Frankie_!" Mac burst out yelping and squirming like a child possessed the instant the guilt-ridden caretaker's embrace started to feel more like the tenacious squeeze of a boa constrictor. "It's okay, seriously! It was _just_ an accident! Frankie, I'm all right!"

"Says the guy who just got slammed right in the face?" she only countered skeptically while she loosened her grasp. "Pal, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Frankie…I'm just _fine_." Mac persisted exasperatedly. As soon as she looked straight into the pleading gaze he cast upon her, Frankie finally managed understand that yet again she had yet again gone into conniptions of unnecessary proportions.

While she grew flush with embarrassment, the redhead ruffled his hair gently and begrudgingly conceded, "Well…it _is_ just a black eye…"

"How about we just call it payback for when I dropped that overloaded laundry basket on your foot last week?" Mac suggested with a weak grin as he tried to allay her remorse. The well-timed comment worked like a charm, and despite her best efforts to fight it, started chuckling weakly.

"You had me limping for the rest of the day." Frankie laughed as she ruffled his hair affectionately. "Okay, okay, I get it, all's forgiven…c'mon, let's get you inside and cleaned up."

With this she effortlessly scooped him up and delicately placed him atop her shoulders.

"You're too hard on yourself sometimes, you know that?" he reminded the overly maternal young woman. Frankie shot back with a sigh,

"Hey, I was partially raised by Wilt since I was three. What _else_ would you expect?"

"Well, he got the unnecessary apologizing down pat with you," Mac joked playfully. "Not so much with the basketball skills."

Frankie rolled her eyes. "You just got lucky yesterday, that's all …."

* * *

"…So, were you like, mouthing off to her? Did she ask you to help her with the laundry or something, and you didn't want to? Or did you track some dirt into the foyer just after she mopped it? Did you…" 

As his azure creation persistently bombarded him with inquiry after curious inquiry while he packed his lunch for the day, Mac distinctly saw with dismay that Frankie kept on wincing involuntarily as she tended to breakfast clean-up nearby. Meanwhile, utterly oblivious to the torture he was causing the resident caretaker, Bloo continued asking away without pause,

"…Was she in a bad mood and you just got in her way? Or did you-"

"Bloo, I told you a hundred times yesterday, so I only want to say it once today; it was an _accident_. Frankie didn't do it on purpose." Mac finally snapped as he started to zip up his backpack. Despite this, Bloo only rolled his eyes and flashed a nasty glare Frankie's away, revealing how obviously unconvinced he was despite his creator's sincere objections.

"Pfft! Yeah, right!" The imaginary friend scoffed as he pointed to his friend's face. "You don't get a black eye the size of one of Coco's eggs 'by accident,' it's just not-"

"Oh, so it's no longer an 'accident' that you got _two_ black eyes and a dozen other bruises last month when you crashed the wagon while riding it down the stairs, right after I _specifically_ told you not to do it?" Frankie finally whirled about at he position at the kitchen sink and countered with a fierce scowl.

"Yeah!" Bloo swiftly agreed with a furious nod as he immediately took the bait and tumbled right into her trap. "See, no one can get…wait...no, wait! No, I mean, that was…uh…no I didn't mean to go down, I was just walking by the top of the staircase when…when I tripped on a banana peel and fell right into the wagon, which…which…which _Eduardo_ had left there, yeah, and then I…it just…"

Once the non-nonsense look on the caretaker's face made it blatantly clear she wasn't buying a word of his mumbo-jumbo, he abruptly trailed off and began backing out towards the nearest exit, though not before taking care to try and excuse himself lamely,

"I…I think I um…need to, uh…t-take the roast out of the oven 'fore it burns, so…so I don't ruin dinner, and…uh…"

Without another word he darted off and vanished from sight. Frankie shook her head and sighed exasperatedly before she focused her attention on her nine-year-old charge. "You all set?"

"Yeah, I think so." Mac replied as he zipped up his backpack and started to toss on his jacket. "I guess I better get going to-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa,_whoa_! Hold on!" his guardian demanded flatly as she placed a hand on his shoulder and shot him an incredulous gaze. "You're not actually _walking_ to school this morning, are you?"

Taken slightly off guard by the inquiry, the child paused before a moment before answering bemusedly, "Well…yeah, it's only drizzling a little outside. I mean, you can barely feel it-"

"That's how it is now, but chances are that it's going to be raining buckets when you're halfway there." Frankie objected as she hastily wiped her hands on a dishtowel.

"But Frankie-"

"Nuh-uh." she objected flatly. "Wait for me in the foyer, and I'll go grab Grandma's car keys"

"C'mon, you don't need to drive me there." Mac protested. "I'll be okay-"

"Oh, heaven forbid I actually take the ten minutes out of my day to keep you from getting drenched to the bone." She responded sarcastically. "Hold on, I need just a minute…"

* * *

Frankie's intuition had served her well; what had started out as the mildest of drizzles had escalated into a full-fledged downpour by the time she pulled up in front of the school in a long line of mainly school buses and mini-vans. 

"_Whoa_!" the caretaker exclaimed as she stamped on the breaks. After the car had come to a jerking halt, she glared fiercely at the SUV just in front of them.

"For Pete's sake! Would it have killed this lady to give me some warning before she stopped?" she grumbled bitterly with a scowl before turning to the child in the passenger seat and abruptly softening her tone. "You okay, pal?"

"Yeah…yeah I'm all right." Mac answered as he zipped up his jacket. "Just a little startled."

"I'm sorry pal, it's just the nerve of some of these drivers…ugh…okay, now, if the weather doesn't clear up by the afternoon, I'll be right here to pick you up after school lets out. Okay?" Frankie reminded as the little boy fumbled to undo his seatbelt.

"I know, I know-"

_THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP_!

They were abruptly interrupted by the sight of a rainbow-sleeved arm banging on the passenger side window, followed by a muffled but still easily discernable high-pitched squeal ringing outside in the midst of the deluge.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiii Mac!" Goo cried as she started leaping up and down to peer into the car, nearly dropping her bright lime green umbrella in her excitement. Frankie broke out smirking as opportunity fell right into her lap.

"Well, guess you better get going. Don't wanna keep your girlfriend waiting now, do we?" she teased mercilessly.

"Frankieeeee…" Mac groaned and banged his head against the back of his seat, getting a few giggles out of his crimson-haired tormentor.

"Kidding, only kidding." She chuckled as she leaned over to give him a quick hug and a kiss on the forehead. "You have a good day now, okay?"

"Okay! Bye, Frankie!" Mac returned the hug before scrambling out of the car and into the pouring rain, where almost immediately his awaiting friend burst out chatting up a storm before he barely got in a few words.

"Hey, Goo-"

"Hi Mac, I haven't seen you since Friday! So how was your weekend? Good? Not so good? Kinda good? Pretty good? Very good? Sorta good? Ooooh, ooooh, cool black eye! Where'd you get it? Football game outside and the ball hit you? Where you and Bloo wrestling? Were you running around and around but you didn't see where you were going at all? Hmm?" she babbled before pointing to the heavy Band-Aid adorning her leg. "I had an accident over the weekend too, see? See it? I went to go ride my bike outside and I was going really really really _really_ super out of control fast down the sidewalk, y'know, almost like…"

As she joyously jabbered on and on, the pair scooted up the stairs to the front doors, lest they were nearly drowned where they stood outside. As they rushed inside, on the way they passed a familiar face standing in the entrance, carefully monitoring the flow of schoolchildren.

"Good morning, Principal Thurston." The pair chorused as they went by. The heavyset fellow grinned and replied politely,

"Good morning to you t-"

The instant he saw the bluish-black anomaly marring the face of one of his students, he stopped dead in mid-greeting as his expression contorted with alarm.

"Hold on, young man!"

"What? Hey, what?" Mac yelped confusedly. "What are you-"

"Mac, where did you get that-"

Not wanting to be late for class, the child abruptly pulled away and scooted off down the hallway, yelling as he left, "Accident!"

Moments later Mac vanished from sight, leaving his concerned principal with deeply aroused suspicions as he found himself facing an all-too-familiar scenario. "Accident"…how many times during his career had he heard _that_ excuse before from an injured child? As much as the man hated to ignore it, what had just happened seem to be almost textbook signs of a either a bully prowling the hallways of his school, or God-forbid…

Well, there maybe he was being rash, for he had no real reason to believe to suspect that what he just saw was the result of-

_BEEP_! _BEEP_!_BEEP_! _BEEP_!

"For God's sake, learn to drive! Have you ever even _heard_ of turn signals before, jerk?" Frankie poked her head out the window and screeched angrily at the hulking SUV in front of her.

As the principal watched the young woman he knew as Mac's guardian tear off down the street, an overpowering sense of horror slowly washed over him as he struggled to make sense of what he had just witnessed in such a terribly short time span. The vaguely explained injuries received while living with what looked like a disturbingly ill-tempered guardian…it all seemed to be far too coincidental for his liking as the administrator hastily concluded with a horrified gasp,

"Oh, dear Lord…"


	4. Chapter 3

**Quick note**: A _very_ good point of reference for this chapter would be chapter 2 of "Falling Apart," and possibly the one-shot "Like Oil and Water."

A huge thanks to all who've reviewed so far!

* * *

_Ding dong_! _Ding Dong_! 

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Frankie yelled exasperatedly as she sprinted into the foyer from the kitchen before skidding to halt right in front of the ornate front doors with skill that only experience could provide. After pausing for a few moments to catch her breath and regain her composure, she fixed on a bright smile, opened the door and instinctively began to greet warmly,

"Welcome to Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends! I'm Frankie, how can I…help…y-you…"

The caretaker took one look into the stern, spectacled gaze of her visitor, and immediately went temporarily mute with agonizing shock so strong, for a brief moment she felt like she was about to faint right then and then in a heap. As immeasurable horror set in, her brilliant emerald eyes bugged almost right from her skull, the smile on her face vanished from existence as her jaw dropped, and her skin rapidly paled to the color of bleached flour. Had any observer taken one glance at the panic-stricken redhead, he or she might've thought Lucifer himself was standing on Foster's front porch.

Of course, the middle-aged Caucasian woman was quite far from the Prince of Darkness, but even then, the tight bun tying up her black hair, the familiar matching blue skirt and jacket combo, and the cold, no-nonsense expression was all thought it took for recognition to strike Frankie like a log to the stomach, causing her to go frozen with fright as a wave of terrible memories flooded over her with the force of a mighty tsunami.

"_..Good morning, Miss Foster. My name is Melinda Corningston; I'm with Social Services…"_

"_What do you want?"_

_"…Now as well all know, due to the passing of the boy's mother and brother here…"_

"…_Mac shall be placed in the care and protection of a local orphanage until he is adopted by a suitable family…"_

"…_NO! No, you won't-"_

"I do believe they're no need for us to reintroduce ourselves. Is there, Miss Foster?" the woman asked flatly, snapping abruptly Frankie out of her flashback.

After what felt like an eternity of struggle, the caretaker finally managed to wrench enough control of her paralyzed vocal cords to gasp softly as she pointed with a visibly trembling hand,

"It's…i-it's_you_…y-you're the s-social worker who…w-who took away Mac w-when…a-after the car accident, y-you're the one at the p-police station who…you took h-him away to try and put him in an orph-"

"Yes, and to little avail, as I see here." The woman interrupted, forcing Frankie to wince uncontrollably; the obvious displeasure in her tone was unmistakable. "And as a quick reminder Miss Foster, I'd prefer that you address me properly as Miss Corningston, not 'you.' Is that clear?"

Frankie, breathing in shallow gasps, nodded dumbly as she strove like mad to figure out what blatantly horrid things were afoot. As past experience had taught her, she never had any reason to be joyous at the sight of any social worker, especially one who she already shared some less-than-memorable experiences with. No doubt about it, she'd have to be an idiot to not realize something was seriously wrong.

"W-what are _you_ doing here?" she inquired in a hoarse whisper as her stomach began to twist up painfully into knots.

"After my agency received a phone call from your charge's school this morning, it seemed must prudent that _I_ would be the best to handle this particular situation, as I've had the most experience with you and the child, though limited as it is."

"Excuse me?" Frankie murmured stupidly in a barely audible murmur.

After stifling what suspiciously appeared to be a smirk of satisfaction that threatened to sneak across her face, Miss Corningston cleared her throat and announced the absolute unthinkable.

"I'm investigating a report of possible child abuse."

* * *

"…There just _has_ to be some misunderstanding." Mr. Herriman stated steadfastly for the umpteenth time. "I know that the principal is bound by law to report any suspicious behavior, and we're all quite aware that you have nothing but Master Mac's welfare in mind, but-" 

"The report I received seemed to hold all clear signs of abuse; the unexcused injuries, a guardian who's had a history of being woefully inept at controlling her own temper-"

"_Unexcused_?" Madame Foster repeated incredulously at the social worker. "You just told us that the boy's teacher took him aside later, and the story Mac gave matches what Frankie told you to the very last detail!"

"That's hardly enough reason for me to call off the investigation." Miss Corningston replied unnaturally calmly, unmoved by the passionate fury in the old woman's tone. "In all my years of work, I've found that it's quite common practice in households with clear-cut cases of physical abuse for the parents to make up a story for the child to tell others if anyone else attempted to inquire about their injuries, such as the always popular door-related excuses. Do you have any idea how many times I've had a traumatized child tell me that their dreadful facial bruises were supposedly all because someone 'accidentally' shut the-"

Before she could continue justifying her suspicions, Mr. Herriman, unable to listen to the hideous accusations any further, abruptly motioned her to be silent as he pounded a tightly clenched fist upon his desk.

"Miss Corningston, good Lord!" he exclaimed in utter appall. "Are you honestly telling us that you sincerely believe that Miss Frances actually hit the boy, then conjured up some frightfully pathetic excuse for him to use if anyone dared ask about his wound?"

"All I'm saying is that the facts I'm working with give me very little reason to believe otherwise." the social worker answered in the same, disturbingly emotionless manner as she sat upright and primly in her armchair. "Considering Miss Foster's temper problems, it would hardly be unfeasible to suspect her of occasionally losing control to the point where no one, not even the child, is safe from-"

"You _can't_ possibly be serious-" Mr. Herriman started to reply before his creator burst out shouting fiercely as she brandished her cane high in the air,

"You're _wrong_! My granddaughter would never in a million years even think of-" Madame Foster valiantly tried to defend her flesh and blood before she was cut off.

"Are you really so sure? You'd have to be blind to not realize that she has serious anger management issues-"

"We're quite aware that in certain situations Miss Frances has difficulty with self-control, thank you very much," Mr. Herriman countered with a defiant glare, "But I'm telling you, this is nothing but a terribly, terribly horrendous misunderstanding; the administrators at Master Mac's school overreacted completely with their dreadfully erroneous assumptions. Miss Frances would _never_-"

"I d-didn't hit him."

As soon as the quavering objection interrupted the epic debate, Madame Foster and her creation glanced together in genuine surprise at the young woman who had emitted the whispered utterance. Ever since the social worker had shown up, Foster's resident caretaker had been so badly stunned by the severity of the charges brought against her she had been able to do little than stand mutely to the side, almost numb with disbelief.

However, now as she sat in her seat, it appeared that the initial shock was finally starting to wear off a bit as she licked dry lips, took a hard swallow, and said a little louder,

"I-I…I didn't hit him…I would _never_ hurt him-"

Miss Corningston didn't even pass a hasty glance her way, and merely rolled her eyes as she replied rather condescendingly,

"Miss Foster, you'll have to do much better than that if you want to convince me that-"

"You think I'm lying?" Frankie snapped as the unmistakably scornful remark made short work of stirring up her infamous temper. "You seriously think that when I get too angry, I actually have nothing better to do than take it out on Mac?"

"Well I have yet to hear anything I could accept as the honest truth, if that's what you're asking." Came the frosty reply.

"I swear, I _didn't_ hit him! I would _never_ do anything like that, it was only an accident, that's all!" Frankie cried, gazing pleadingly into her accuser's eyes. "You have to trust me, I-"

"Trust?" Miss Corningston repeated skeptically. "You're asking _me_ to actually trust _you_?"

"What the hell do you think I'm asking for?" Frankie hissed as the blood began to boil in her veins.

Almost instantly in near synchronization, Madame Foster and her equally alarmed creation both realized that the fuming caretaker was well on her way to wrecking massive damage to her dangerously fragile integrity.

"Miss Frances, please! Watch your mouth-" Mr. Herriman frantically reprimanded as Madame Foster reached over to pat her raging grandchild's hand.

"Frankie dear,_please_, you must-"

"No, don't." Miss Corningston ordered them as her icy blue eyes stared straight into the growing fires raging in Frankie's pupils. "Do you _really_ wish to know why I find it nearly impossible for me to believe you, Miss Foster? In case you've forgotten, the first time we met, I was forced to leave as quickly as I possibly could while several police officers were struggling to restrain you. I've seen what you can become as soon as you lose control of yourself, I _know_ what you're capable of. If you were able to resist nearly half a precinct's worth of officers, then how hard could it be for the stress of raising a child on your own to get so much to bear that you can't help every now and then but-"

"I would _never_ intentionally hurt him!" Frankie growled in insistence. "I'm not going to deny that I lost it in the police station that day, but that was all because you were taking _my_ little brother away-"

"No, I was doing my duty and taking a newly-orphaned little boy someplace safe where he could get the care he needed until he could be placed in another home, with a _real_ family." Her spectacled foe corrected with a fierce glare. With fury skyrocketing by the second, Frankie curled her lips into a ferocious snarl and shot back,

"No, _you_ tried to take him away from his _real_ family-"

"Oh, so I was supposed to believe that an eight-year-old would be better off with some girl, clearly barely out of college, not even related to him in any way possible, who then nearly went crazed with hysteria the moment she didn't have her way?"

"You tore him right out of my arms!" Frankie involuntarily howled.

"And you snapped almost immediately! How could I have possibly even considered allowing you to even temporarily look after the child when I had the chance to watch you descend into a wild fury the second-"

"Did you expect her to passively sit there and watch as you forcibly took Master Mac away?" Mr. Herriman suddenly broke in. "How can you possibly accuse Miss Frances of neglect or ill-treatment? If anything, that terrible incident should have made it clear to even the most dimwitted individual that Miss Frances obviously loves the child dearly! Miss Corningston, these charges are nothing short of absolutely absurd! Believe me, as long as Master Mac has been in Miss Frances' care, she's treated him with nothing but excellent care and affection; I have never seen her so much as lay one finger on him out of rage!"

At first, the woman was caught off guard, not expecting such fervent defense from the figment. Only after a moment though, she quickly recomposed herself and swiftly matched him tit for tat.

"How on earth can I know if anything that you say is true? Mr. Herriman, if anything, it's much more difficult for me to trust _you_ at all!"

"Excuse me?" he replied incredulously, unable to conceive that someone would dare call his integrity into question. The social worker narrowed her eyes as she glared accusingly.

"Since we've last met, you've successfully gone back on _everything_ you've promised me. Right after Mac's mother perished, I remember quite clearly that we both agreed it would be for the best if the child was placed in one of the local orphanages, as dictated by law. Then, shortly after Miss Foster's hysterical outbreak, the police department informed me, to my relief at the time, that you had given them your word that she would _not_ be allowed to know where the child was taken to-"

"I was completely wrong to agree with you at all in the first place." Mr. Herriman admitted flatly without so much as a trace of remorse for his betrayal. "I was forced to learn the hard way that the assumptions I had made that day were totally erroneous-"

"You honestly believe he's better off with Miss Foster? _Her_?" came the genuinely incredulous reply. "Actually taking care of a child…"

She paused to leaf through her files before asking incredulously after glancing at what looked like a medical form, "…And one who had until recently, an undiagnosed _heart condition_, at that? Good Lord, this file reads almost like a horror story-"

"He _had_ a heart condition." Frankie snarled in correction, but to little avail as her protest was ignored completely as Miss Corningston continued on.

"Mr. Herriman, I can't even begin to describe the immense horror I felt when I learned only weeks later that Miss Foster had not only successfully located, but actually _adopted_ the child." She said, speaking with such sound disproval, it was if the very idea was a veritable crime against humanity. "A dangerously ill-tempered girl with complete charge of a little boy? I didn't even want to think about it, especially when I learned of the little 'escapade' she had shortly before the official adoption-"

"Mac tried to flee that orphanage because he _didn't_ want to be placed with any other family." Madame Foster countered sharply, glaring daggers. "He wanted to be here with his _family_, and my granddaughter risked her very life to make sure that-"

"If anything, _she_ was the entire cause of that mess by obviously influencing the child and making him believe he'd somehow be better off with her in the first place, not to mention the fact that she managed to show us all just how unthinkably reckless she can be." Came the cold reply, to which Mr. Herriman rolled his eyes in disbelief at what he was hearing.

"Dear God…" he groaned as she continued on as if she were talking about the travesty of the century.

"When I learned that they _both_ ended up hospitalized after that mess, I…oh mercy, why I never took any initiative to look into this case before I received the report this morning, I have no idea. I _knew_ this wasn't going to work, I knew Miss Foster wouldn't be able to handle-"

"You only _thought_ what was going to happen, and you know what?" Frankie objected vehemently. "You're _wrong_!"

"All you have is the testimony of your family to back you up, Miss Foster." Miss Corningston shot back. "Remember, I've seen what you're capable of when you're out of control, plus I have the sworn word of a few of my colleagues about how viciously you behaved when they visited you at home-"

"Those idiots kept bothering us because none of them was reading Mac's goddamn file right!" Frankie exploded as she stood up, bristling with torrid rage. "Did those numbskulls tell you _that_? Huh? You people kept thinking Mac lived in a _foster_ home, not Foster's Home-"

"Miss Frances,_please_!" Mr. Herriman yelped in panic.

"Frankie, settle down!" Madame Foster chimed in, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. By this point, the young woman was so overwhelmed with fury she couldn't hear anything except the clamor of her own roaring.

"I'm so goddamn sick and tired of this grade-A bullshit!" Frankie involuntarily shrieked as she quivered with unbridled anger from head to toe. "You march in here, acting all high and mighty because you think you're here to save the day, but you know what? If you think I'm just going to sit here and let you act like you have so much as one fucking idea about who the hell I really am, then-"

"Miss Foster, if you can't show me that you have an ounce of self-restraint, I'll be forced to conclude that Mac would be in immediate danger if he were to stay in this house with you so much as one more night!" Miss Corningston stood up and threatened boldly, completely unfazed by the girl's awesome display of wrath. "I promise, if you don't stop right now, I'll take the child with me the moment he walks in through the front door! Is that clear?"

With these magic words, she silenced the raving redhead completely. Although nothing enraged her more than the charges being brought against her, the terrible anger coursing through her hardly matched her fear that she would actually end the day losing what was most precious to her. As the fury was spooked clean out of her, Frankie clamped her mouth shut and sat herself down without a single word of protest. Much to the caretaker's dismay however, she noticed that the social worker seemed to be slightly disappointed that she had managed to calm herself so quickly, as if she had desperately been craving the justification she needed to take Mac.

As she briefly glanced straight into the gaze of the enemy however, the horrific truth suddenly became all too clear. That wasn't disappointment she read on the social worker's expression, but deep, deep frustration, as if it pained her to acknowledge that for the time being, the child would remain at Foster's. Frankie could see it in her eyes; the woman devoutly believed with all her heart that Mac wasn't safe here.

Once this terrible realization sunk in that she was genuinely being viewed as nothing more than the vilest of criminals by the one agency who could legally dismantle her family, Frankie again found herself mute and almost petrified with shock.

"I can clearly see that I'm not going to get anywhere if I stay here any longer, so I'll be blunt." Mrs. Corningston announced after she had recomposed herself. "While I haven't been given sufficient evidence to believe that Mac's injuries were the result of just an accident…"

The others held their breaths until she continued with a sigh, "Because this black eye is the only incident I have a report of so far, neither have I enough proof to conclude that the boy is currently living in an unsafe household, so there's no need to call in the police or anyone else…_yet_."

Frankie bit down so furiously upon her lip, she almost drew blood.

"Mind you though, this is only the beginning of our investigation; we'll be keeping on eye on things here to make sure for ourselves rather this is little more than an isolated incident. Someone will be promptly assigned to your case, and will begin to come to observe you shortly. And if they see that our suspicions about Miss Foster are indeed correct…"

She silenced-herself in mid-sentence once the indescribable terror written all over Frankie's expression told her that the young woman knew perfectly well what ramifications were to follow if she were to be branded as an unfit guardian. With her work done, the social worker gathered her things together and made a beeline out of Mr. Herriman's office, and paused only to give them a polite nod before she headed towards the front door and vanished from sight.

For what seemed like an eternity, the office was cloaked in a dead quiet, as everyone struggled to comprehend the unthinkable turn of events of only the last hour. The deafening silence though was finally broken when Madame Foster hopped down from her chair and hobbled to her speechless granddaughter, who was so shaken by the encounter she was trembling noticeably.

"Frankie?" she inquired gently as she took one of the twenty-three-year-old's quaking hands into her wrinkled palm. "Are you all right?"

Almost immediately the room began echoing with the heartbreaking bawling of a devastated young woman.

* * *

It had all happened so fast, Wilt's head was spinning. One minute, he and Eduardo were simply playing video games in the TV room, when suddenly an unusually frantic-sounding Mr. Herriman suddenly ordered over the loud-speaker that the lanky imaginary friend was to come right to his office as soon as humanly possible. After attempting to reassure his fretful bullish companion that he wasn't in trouble for anything, or as far as he knew, he obediently sprinted off. 

Upon arrival, he found a most upsetting spectacle, with Madame Foster and Mr. Herriman trying desperately to calm down an absolutely inconsolable Frankie, with little to show for their efforts. The poor girl was a complete wreck, sitting curled up in a tight little ball, hugging her legs as she kept her tear-streaked features buried in her knees as she filled the room with the clamor of sobbing so intense her entire body shook.

Needless to say, it didn't take long for Wilt to realize why he was needed, and within moments he had thrown his good arm around his adoptive "kid" in a tight embrace and was whispering reassurances to the redhead as Madame Foster filled him in on the shocking details of what had occurred just minutes before.

Finally, after what felt like a straight ten minutes of fervent consoling, Frankie finally whimpered as she hugged Wilt tightly,

"They c-can't do this, th-they just can't...it's not fair…its j-just not fair…th-they can't do this… …" she moaned despondently. "Oh God, why _her_? Of everyone social worker in the damn state, _why_ did it have to be-"

"Dear, it's okay." Madame Foster tried to assuage the girl's terror with a weak smile. "All they said was that someone was going to start visiting to observe-"

"A-and who do you think that 'someone' is going to be?" her grandchild snapped. "That h-horrible witch, _that's_ who! She's the one obviously w-working on this case-"

"Well, nothing's set in stone yet; it can _still_ easily work out for the best, then." Mr. Herriman countered optimistically. "If she visits, then she'll be able to clearly that the very idea that you mistreat Master Mac is utterly preposterous, and that this whole matter is nothing more than a false suspicion on their part-"

Despite his reassurances, Frankie only started weeping harder and shaking her head furiously in steadfast denial.

"N-no! No, didn't you hear h-her? Didn't y-you see the l-look in her eyes? She's already convinced I-I'm dangerous! Sh-she already made up her mind! All she n-needs is an excuse to t-take away Mac as soon as she can…s-she's already positive I actually beat him, that m-monster -"

"Frankie, maybe you're just-" Wilt attempted to cut in before she only broke out bemoaning miserably,

"Don't say it's n-not true, b-b-because it is! It _is_! Sh-she-"

"Frankie, are you okay?"

The second the gentle inquiry rang out from the doorway, the young woman immediately attempted to bottle up her weeping as she turned around in her chair in the direction of the familiar voice with a start. There in the office entrance stood one slightly wet little girl closing up her umbrella as she stood alongside one equally damp little boy, both of whom looked extraordinarily alarmed.

"_Mac_!" Frankie cried hoarsely before glancing to her wristwatch. "Oh my God, I'm sorry pal, I totally forgot that I promised to pick you up! Are you all right? Is everything okay-"

"Well, the teacher kept taking Mac aside to ask him about his eye, which was kinda weird, but I guess they just wanted to make sure there wasn't a bully loose in the school who was picking on everybody or anything like that, but besides that, it was only like, barely, drizzling outside, it wasn't even like standing in a shower with your clothes on, because-" Goo burst out chattering in reply before Mac interrupted.

"We're fine, really! Don't worry! It's just….when we just walked in…we heard you crying, so…so we just…"

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Goo squeaked concernedly. "Frankie what happened? Are you okay? What happened? What's wrong? Frankie, are you okay?"

For the next couple moments, all eyes were upon the caretaker as she wiped at her puffy red eyes, struggling to try and compose herself as she prepared to answer. After being able to do little more than sniffle uncontrollably for a bit, looked right straight at them…and abruptly lost all will to tell the truth.

She was utterly doomed the instant she gazed into Mac's eyes and saw not just her adopted little brother, but the boy who was forced to mature early under the lack of care of an overworked single mother and less-than-loving older brother.

She could see the child who then lost that family at the tender age of eight, and was promptly taken away and deposited in an orphanage where he spent his days so fearing the possibility of being placed with another family he was driven to escape with almost catastrophic consequences, as testified by the nasty scar marring Frankie's side.

She saw the little one who went on from that experience only to very nearly lose his life again, only this time to a heart condition that was fixed only by his older brother, a confused survivor of the car crash that had killed their mother, who tried to take revenge before snapping back to his senses long enough to completely sacrifice his own life.

Frankie saw the child who had experienced so much before even turning ten years old, and despite it all, at the moment his grandest concern was with whatever his torturing his adoptive older sister. Such was Mac, rarely one to put himself before anyone else.

Nearly overwhelmed to the point of nausea by the sickening injustice of it all, the twenty-three-year-old knew right then and there she didn't have the heart to tell him that yet again, his world was to be turned upside-down. Goo's presence and own genuine worry only compounded Frankie's intense reluctance, for how could she bear to tell the little creature she was in danger of losing her one real friend, and not for the first time?

It just wasn't fair, the young woman concluded, that again they had to face when they had none no wrong to anyone. With her heart aching excruciatingly at the mere thought of revealing the terrible truth, without even thinking, Frankie took the very first name she could think of and blurted out,

"Jess died last night."

As Madame Foster, Mr. Herriman, and Wilt gawked dumbly at her as if she had just completely lost her mind, the children just stared unblinkingly in confusion.

"…Jess?" Mac repeated the unfamiliar name curiously.

"Yeah, y'know; short for Jessica." The young woman went on, as she hastily cooked up a story on the spot. "She was a…friend of mine from college…and…and she…fell down a steep flight of stairs in her house, and…a-and I just got the news this afternoon, and…"

Mac needed to hear no more. Before she could go into further detail with her lie, the little boy scampered over, clambered up the side of the chair and onto her lap, and tossed his little arms around her neck in a tight hug, not at all noticing how she winced painfully as he embraced her. She despised lying right to his face, but unfortunately, at the moment it would have literally hurt her so much more to attempt to tell the truth. As Frankie tried to endure her decision to face the lesser of two evils, Goo followed her friend's example and hugged the caretaker's legs.

"Sorry to hear about your friend." Mac murmured somberly. With heart wrenching uncontrollably, Frankie managed to plaster a weak smile onto her face as she stroked the little ones' heads softly.

"It's…it's okay, really…I…I was just torn up when I got the news, but…but I'll get through this…promise, I'll be fine…"

"You sure?" Goo asked. The young woman nodded.

"I'm sure, I just need a little time, that's all. Don't worry about me, I'll be okay. You…y-you guys don't need to hang around here, there's no need for _all_ of us to be upset."

The children however didn't even loosen their hold one bit as Mac inquired skeptically, "You _sure_ you're going to be okay?"

"I'm sure…I'll be fine…just don't tell Bloo, or the others about this either, okay? We don't want them to get upset for no reason too, right?"

"I guess…" Mac murmured hesitantly. "But-"

"Really, everything's going to be just fine. It's all right, the hugs were just what I needed." She fibbed. "Th-thank you…I'll be all right…really…look, how about you guys go g-get your homework started, give me a little time to myself and you get help me get dinner started? How about that?"

"…All right." Mac murmured with a wan grin as his worry was finally assuaged. After adding just one more squeeze, together he and Goo obediently exited the room, with Frankie calling out,

"I'll be all right, really! There's nothing for you to worry about, absolutely nothing…for you…to…"

Once she was sure they were out of earshot, she collapsed limply in her chair with a pained sigh, while the others at first could found themselves unable to anything but gawk dumbly in disbelief at what they had just witnessed.

"…Why didn't you tell him?" Mr. Herriman demanded incredulously. Frankie glared defiantly.

"Do you even remember why he's still with us today?" she hissed. "F-for starters, that's not his heart beating inside of him, it's Terrence's, who survived the car crash that killed his mother and forced Mac to end up in a god-forsaken-"

"Frankie, where are you going right this?" her perplexed grandmother asked. The redhead straightened up and argued steadfastly with the tears welling up in her eyes,

"That little boy has done absolutely nothing wrong his entire life, but he's not even ten years old and already he's had to deal with more pain and trauma then some people deal with in there entire lives. What am I supposed to do to the kid whose already lost his family once? Whose mom was mangled in a car wreck? everything all over again? Does _that_ sound fair to any of you at all? Huh?"

"Dear-" Madame Foster attempted to argue, before Frankie half sobbed, half growled,

"_Does it_?"

The others couldn't deny that it was painfully clear she was only doing this out of nothing short of love. Nevertheless, Mr. Herriman couldn't help but remind her with a sigh,

"As much as I understand… He and the others _will_ need to know at some point."

"I know, I know." She acknowledged the unfortunate truth reluctantly, "I…I know…"

"Frankie you _can't_ hide this forever." Madame Foster explained. "There's simply no way that-"

"I know, I know! Look, look, I know I couldn't tell him now, but…but…just gimme some time, okay? A lot's happened today, I just…I just need some time to myself, and _then_ I can tell him." She explained, truly unsure of whether she was telling the truth or not.

"Are you positive?" Mr. Herriman demanded.

Frankie nodded weakly as she struggled to recompose herself. As painful as today's ordeal just was, and as indescribably terrified she was of worst come to worst, she knew she wouldn't be doing anyone any good if she allowed herself to go to pieces. If she was to get through this, she had to be strong, for her family…for Mac. After all, she had willingly endured through so much worse before, and everything had turned out all right. Surely they would all easily make it through this ordeal…right?

"I'm…I'm sure…don't worry, you guys are probably right…" she murmured optimistically with a forced smile. "It's just a big misunderstanding, we'll get this all sorted out…everything's going to be just fine…"


	5. Chapter 4

As terrified as she was about how unsettlingly possible the worst of her potential outcomes could be, she still had plenty of hope that it would never actually have to come down to the forced separation of her little family, and that justice would be served.

Thus, absolutely nothing could've possibly prepared her now for this living nightmarish hell she had been mercilessly cast into.

"…No! No! Please, no! Not again! You can't! You _can't_! Not again!" Frankie shrieked herself hoarse between the powerful sobs that wracked her body. As she was nearly blinded by the rivers of hot tears flooding down her cheeks, she fought and struggled like a young woman possessed to try and escape, and to put an end to this unthinkable horror.

Alas, they had come prepared. Her best efforts were little match for the two hulking policemen that dwarfed her while they each held on firmly to her arms, while her wrists lay so tightly handcuffed together behind her back she was beginning to lose circulation in her hands. Nearby, a third behemoth of a law enforcer struggled to hold in place what was basically a plastic pet carrier that rocked about violently as its azure captive struggled to break loose.

"Mac! Mac! Mac!" the pained screams rang out as twin blobbish stubs protruded from between the bars of the door and reached frantically out of mad desperation.

Not too far off, she could hear her grandmother and Mr. Herriman arguing vainly with a few other officers on the front porch of Foster's. Meanwhile it seemed like every single resident in the house was wordlessly watching the dreadful spectacle unfold from every window in silent horror as the caretaker stood in the middle of the front yard, shackled and helpless before them all, as she persistently refused to accept the agony that had become her reality.

"You can't do this! You can't! _No_! Please, don't!" she howled her undying defiance to the heavens as she continued to squirm like mad in a useless attempt to free herself, thrashing about and digging her heels fruitlessly into the lawn like some captured wild beast. Alas, the officers held firm, and only tightened their grip until it felt like her arms were being crushed in twin vice-grips. Despite the pain, she continued to put up her futile fight, and as she struggled on, an all-too familiar woman stepped before her to shoot a fierce glower through her heavy glasses.

"Miss Frances, I specifically ordered you _not_ to interfere!" the social worker reminded in that terrible, frosty tone as she nursed a fresh bruise marring her left cheek.

"No! You can't do this! You can't! You _can't_! I don't abuse him! I _don't_! You've got me all wrong! Please! I-I didn't mean to! Please, you have to listen to me!" Frankie only begged shamelessly. Backing up a pace, the spectacled woman merely replied,

"It _didn't_ have to come down to this; if you just would've let me take the boy without-"

"_Go to hell_!" Frankie just screamed hoarsely at the top of her lungs before attempting to spit square upon the social worker's face.

It just couldn't end like this; they just couldn't do this, not after all that she had been through. The young woman burst out sobbing anew in insufferable anguish, while the other woman just turned her gaze away from the pitiful sight.

"Wait until I leave with the child." She calmly ordered the officers restraining the hysterical redhead. "Then you can take her off down to the station-"

"No! Nooooo! No! Please, _don't_!" Frankie erupted screeching in protest again, kicking up chunks of grass and sod as she struggled to pull herself free. "You can't! Mac! _Mac_!"

Peering through the iron fence surrounding the property, she could barely make out the sedan, where a terrified little boy sat in the back seat, banging furiously on the windows and crying her name over and over as he tried to get out.

"Frankie! F-Frankie!" Mac's muffled, weepy cries echoed in her ears as the caretaker powerlessly watched the social worker wordlessly walk towards her car and climb into the driver's seat. As the engine was ignited, adopted little brother and adoptive big sister wordlessly stared into each other's tear-streaked features for a few moments, with horrified disbelief stamped upon both their expressions.

As soon as the car suddenly began to pull away, Frankie was immediately gripped by an excruciating surge of panic the likes of which she had never experienced before, and while howling like a wounded beast, she made one last attempt to get to the little boy before he was gone.

"_MAC_! _MAC_!"

With strength borne out of sheer desperation, she suddenly broke loose from the vice grip the officers held upon her, and for a few moments she saw the faintest glimmer of hope as she tried to race away. However, she had barely taken one step before she could feel a veritable giant of a police officer grab her by the back of her neck.

"_Urrk_!" she gagged violently as her captor brutally hurled her to the ground then quickly pressed a foot onto her stomach, effectively pinning her in place. As Frankie thrashed about, gasping raggedly for breath as he swiftly increased the pressure, the officer yelled,

"She just won't stop fighting!"

"Not for long!" his equal brutish partner growled as he removed his peeper spray from his belt. "Hold her still, I'll-"

* * *

"_AUGH_!" 

The young woman cried as she shot up in bed, with hands thrown up over her face. As soon as she realized though that her eyes weren't burning with the sting of mace, the extraordinarily confused girl slowly lowered her hands and bemusedly took stock of her surroundings as her chest heaved up and down.

She was in her own bed, in her own moonlit room, with the clock on her nightstand reading some ungodly late hour in blaring red letters. Besides the cold sweat that drenched her to the point where her violet nightgown now clung uncomfortably to her body, nothing else appeared amiss; everything seemed to be perfectly fine.

Once she understood that she had just awoken from a dreadful nightmare, the still slightly-disorientated girl sucked in a deep breath heavily and lay back down, only to shoot up again like a spring a second later as a sudden, horrifying thought forced her heart to skip a beat.

_Just_ a dream, or terrible memory?

This slightest shadow of a doubt was all it took to throw her into a fresh panic. With unmatched speed and agility she leapt from bed and sprinted headlong from her room and across the hall. With her eyes not nearly fully adjusted to the dark, she relied almost entirely on memory to guide her, and after blindly bumbling around and eliciting a few muffled curses, she made it into Mac's bedroom, though not before banging her shoulder upon the door frame first.

Once she had stumbled to where she thought his bed was, Frankie started feeling about frantically as her heart pounded like a kettledrum in her chest. Finally, much to her inexpressible relief, her fingertips brushed a few strands of hair, which was followed by the sounds of someone stirring in their sleep with a barely audible murmur. The woman waited a few more moments to let her eyes adjust to the darkness, and once she could make out the figure of a certain slumbering little boy, Frankie elicited a loud gasp.

Needless to say, however, considering the intensity of her nightmare, she wasn't exactly ready to just head straight back to bed for a few more hours of sleep, as expressed by the fact that her hands now shook uncontrollably. Moving with the utmost delicacy, she gingerly sat herself upon the bed top where she began to absentmindedly stroke Mac's head as she tried to gather herself back together.

It had been nothing more than a dream, she reassured herself. The most frightfully realistic one she could ever recall having, true, but nevertheless, only a dream. Yes, that was right, it was all coming back to her now, the social worker had visited only yesterday. They were still all together, nothing had happened yet…with heavy emphasis on _yet_.

It did little good to remember the undeniable fact that her nightmare was more than just the result of the previous day's stress; it was an all-too-feasible possibility for them all in this unexpected mess she found herself helplessly trapped in. Once she reluctantly realized this, almost instantly chills began to race up her spine all the way to the back of her neck, and the enormous knot in her stomach seemed to expand and tighten threefold. As much as she wanted to hope and hold onto a shred of optimism, she also couldn't help but remind herself that at the moment the cards were stacked against her; her naturally short fuse and the fact that social workers consistently rubbed her the wrong way had allied together to form the unthinkably horrendous disadvantage. They were what got her into this mess, and if anything, could very well turn her dreams into reality.

Frankie groaned as she gloomily mulled over the harsh truth. Usually in times of such deep distress, she would confide in none other than the child himself, who could usually give her exactly just what she needed, be it a few words of encouragement, or even just a comforting hug. Unfortunately, she still couldn't bear though to break the news about the new threat to their lives, not just yet. His short life up to that point had already been grossly unfair in far too many ways as it was, and the very thought of putting him through more trauma agonized her more than the fright she felt at that very moment, a near-impossible feat.

Suddenly, her reflecting was interrupted when the child started to whimper a little in his slumber. Acting quickly, the maternal young woman leaned over and began to shush softly into his ear, all the while stroking his head as delicately as she could. Once Mac quickly calmed down, Frankie took a few moments to tuck him in and plant a light kiss on his forehead before settling back down into silent contemplation.

At least _he_ could easily be comforted when the need be, she mused. But who was there to reassure the reassurer?

* * *

"…Pssst! W-Wilt? Wilt?" 

It didn't take long for the hushed whispers and gentle shaking to rouse the gangly figment out of a deep sleep.

"Hmm? Wha…?" he answered with a gaping yawn before wrenching his good eye open to get a bleary look at his midnight visitor. "Huh? What the…"

"…H-hi." the familiar lanky redhead murmured softly, averting her gaze a little in embarrassment as she poked her head beneath the bunk bed.

Once Wilt detected the obvious quaver in her tone, and realized how oddly moist her hands felt, all vestiges of drowsiness abruptly faded away as he was immediately beset with alarm. It took but a matter of moments for him to understand that something was obviously upsetting his "kid."

Without so much as a word, the deeply concerned crimson thought slipped out from under the bed and was on his feet in an instant. With a weak smile of gratitude Frankie quietly led him out into the hallway.

Once he had taken care to shut the bedroom door behind him, Wilt, sensing the young woman's desperate need for solace of any sort, immediately plopped himself onto the floor and rest his head against the wall. Frankie, without a word of objection, instinctively sat down and started leaning heavily against his shoulder with a distressed whimper.

The towering imaginary friend frowned as he felt her alarmingly clammy skin while he wrapped a winding arm about her shoulders. He would have had to be an absolute dimwit to not know what was mercilessly tormenting her. Unfortunately, what was there to say to attempt to assuage her obvious fright when such an unspeakably horrendous threat loomed so close? After struggling valiantly to try and find the right words, the poor creature was only able to whisper lamely,

"It's…it's okay…it's going to be all right…"

"How c-can we even say that?" Frankie croaked morosely. "You know what happened… I was basically told I'm going to lose Mac the second that-"

"Frankie, I know things don't look too good right now, but I don't think-" he fervently tried to console her before she started shaking her head pessimistically.

"This isn't just some misunderstanding we can clear up like just that, this is serious. I-I could actually lose…th-they might…"

The very thought frightened her so badly she was temporarily at a loss for words, as her lanky imaginary friend replied somberly as ruffled her hair a little,

"I know, I know."

For a few moments, the two silently sat there in the dark, each gazing into empty space as Frankie suddenly confessed bluntly,

"…I-I'm…I'm scared."

Wilt couldn't even remember the last time he had heard her openly admit to being frightened. Instinctively, he hugged her a little closer, as he could somehow shelter her against the despondency that threatened to swallow her whole as she started murmuring miserably,

"I…I want to try and fight this anyway I can, but…I just feel like it's me against all of social services, like they're honestly not going to stop until Mac's far away from here as possible. A-and it's not like I can really blame them either…I have the reputation from hell among them already, and...all _any_ visiting social worker's probably going to do is just rile me up until …a-and…it's not fair, Mac…Mac didn't do _anything_ wrong, and… and…h-he's still just a kid, he need to be here, with his…h-his family, b-but because of m-me, now…n-now…"

Unable to go no further, she suddenly clenched her fist and pounded the floor as deep frustration finally got the best of her. As a few tears startled to trickle down her cheeks, Wilt grimaced painfully as he could feel his heart break for the despairing twenty-three-year-old, and for a few minutes, the two just clung to each other grimly, helplessly mulling over the rapidly growing danger that imperiled their tiny family.

"_Wait_!" Wilt suddenly blurted out as something crossed his mind, startling her slightly.

"What? What is it?" she demanded, as he turned his head and repeated with an unmistakable grin of excitement that nearly lit up the entire hall,

"You said it's just you against _all_ of social services?"

After staring dully for a moment or so, Frankie suddenly caught on. At first, she wanted to kick herself for not thinking of it before in the midst of the hectic turn of events. However, that impulse lasted for but a split-second before she felt a bit of hope, causing her to burst out smiling along with him.

"You're right, there's…but do you really think that maybe…y'know…"

Wilt chuckled weakly as he ruffled her hair. "Well, we wont know unless you talk to your inside contact first, will we?"

* * *

_RINGRINGRING_! _RINGRINGRING_! _RINGRINGRING_!

"…Oh God, who the hell?"

After being woken up out of a dead slumber and being forced to blindly grope about in the pitch dark for a few moments as the loud ring violated her eardrums, Kathy managed to locate her phone.

"_What_?" she answered irritably with a dozy growl. "Who is…huh? Frankie? What the…. hey, whoa, calm down! What's wrong? You sound terrible…"


	6. Chapter 5

"…Jesus Christ." Kathy swore in complete astonishment as soon as her friend had finished updating her on the unthinkable turn of events of the day before. For a couple seconds, she just stared blankly into empty space, with her jaw dangling limply in total incredulity while Frankie fidgeted with her cup.

"That's…that's about everything, I think." The redhead murmured as the two sat at a small table tucked away in the corner of the tiny coffee joint. Besides them, the meeting place they had agreed on the night before was nearly empty save a sole waitress sweeping up. After each one quietly took a quick sip of their respective drinks, Kathy gazed at her reflection in her espresso before asking,

"And…this seriously all happened only yesterday? _Jeez_!" she yelped in alarm as a particularly horrifying thought crossed her mind. "Oh God, they didn't call the police or-"

"No, no, only social services…but since Monday afternoon, I've officially been under investigation." Frankie answered morosely, and her friend shook her head as she desperately struggled to absorb the horrific news.

"I…I just don't believe it…._you_ of all people, I never would've thought someone would actually think to report you for…" she babbled, still reeling from shock as she shock her head. "I mean, this is so…wrong. _You_ don't abuse Mac… for Pete's sake, you were still freaking out about that door accident when I called you Sunday, and…oh my God, I don't believe it, this is just so…"

Unsure of what else to say, she trailed off and stared blankly at the table before inquiring softly, "So… wait, did you get the name of who stopped by Foster's yesterday?"

"Lady by the last name of Corningston…" Frankie answered with a grimace, before adding anxiously, "Do…do you know her at all?"

"Know her?" Kathy coughed, with eyes bugging as the answer stunned her in mid-sip. "Frankie, that's…that's my _boss_ you're talking about!"

"…Your… _what_?" Frankie repeated in a horrified whisper. Kathy hastily wiped her mouth on a napkin and nodded furiously.

"Yes! Well, _one_ of the superiors at the office… and ever since I started working at the office downtown, I've been reporting specifically to her for…"

She trailed off, took a deep breath, and after this pause to get her thoughts in order, she stared Frankie right in the eyes and demanded, "Cripes, are you absolutely _positive_ it was-"

"I'm sure." The redhead answered, to which Kathy only started to shake her head again in absolute disbelief, putting her friend at immense unease.

"…What? What's wrong?" the atrociously unsettled caretaker whimpered.

"What's wrong? The lady _you're_ talking about sounds like some psycho who has a personal grudge against you, _that's_ what I'm having trouble with." Kathy explained. "I mean, I'm not going to lie here, she's definitely a bit more…well, passionate about the job than a lot of us, and…see, she's not exactly too big of a fan of … I guess 'non-traditional' families would be the best way to put it-"

"Oh my God…" Frankie moaned in horror as her jade eyes immediately widened a little. "You _can't_ be serious-"

"No, wait, wait, hear me out! It's okay, just hear me out!" Kathy sputtered as she signaled for Frankie to settle down. "She does have a bit of a bias, _that_ I won't deny. But from what I've seen, in every case she handles, the one thing she always has in mind is what's best for the kid. See, that's why I'm having a little with what you're telling me, because…I'm sorry, but…"

The young woman paused, not sure how best to put it. "You're…see, you've been talking about this like she's only bent on separating you and Mac, and-"

"That's because that's _exactly_ what she's trying to do." Frankie shot back defensively. "I _know_ she is-"

"No, no, I don't believe it." Kathy flatly objected, though immediately she broke out grimacing apologetically. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Its just… like I said, all she wants in every case she takes care of is what's best for the child, and…I mean, how _anyone_ can think _you're_ not taking good care of the little guy…to be fair, I know she gets a little zealous about her work, but I don't think I've _ever_ seen her make such a call like this before-"

"Well there's a first time for everything!" Frankie snapped involuntarily, surprising her friend with the ferocity of her reply.

"Frankie-"

"Kath, you _have_ to believe me." The redhead begged shamelessly. "She's already convinced I'm just an unstable monster, and it's only a matter of time before I-"

"Okay, okay, look, I _know_ you're freaking out about this, all right? None of us saw this coming, and I _know_ things don't look good at all right now, but what you really need to do is calm down, and listen to me, okay?" Kathy pleaded.

"Okay…" Frankie murmured softly as the other woman continued on.

"All right…I know you're not going to believe me when I say this, and I know this is a pretty bad mess…but I think you're getting a _little_ overworked about this-"

"_What_?" Frankie immediately yelped, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"No, no, just hold on! It'll all work out, I promise! You'll be fine! _Trust_ me, I know what the drill's going to be, she's probably just going stop by and observe you a few times, see that there's obviously no abuse or anything going on, and then-"

"But it's not just 'passion' she's handling my case with, it's…it's fanaticism!" Frankie objected. "And every time we meet, all she does is rile me up to the point I become the psycho witch she thinks I am! Now she's already made up her mind, she really thinks that Mac's honestly in danger by living with me, I _know_ it! She wants him out of Foster's and away from me as soon as -"

"_Every_ time you guys meet?" Kathy repeated confusedly. "This all happened only _yesterday_. Look, I know you didn't get off to a good start, but I promise, things _will_ work out just fine. All anyone at the agency wants to know in any case is if the kid's all right with their current family, and in your situation, that _won't_ be hard -"

"But you _don't_ understand!" Frankie confessed. "I…I already have a history with this-"

"I know you have a bad rap with a couple others at the agency, but that wasn't your fault they all kept misreading Mac's file like that every time they came across it." Kathy did her first to assuage her friend's worry as she tried to flash a weak but optimistic smile. "We can get past that, don't worry-"

"No, no, not just that, with _her_ specifically!" Frankie interrupted. "For God's sake, the first time she saw me, I was being restrained by several cops in-"

Startled by this sudden bombshell of a revelation, Kathy nearly showered Frankie with a mouthful of coffee, and just barely managed to swallow it as she choked in astonishment,

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa_! She saw you do _WHAT_? Frankie, when the _hell_ did you…wait…wait, you mean…" she stammered as realization struck her with the force of a stampeding herd of mad bulls. "Oh God, when…when Mac's mom died, and…and he got dumped in an orphanage after the car accident, and…and at the police station…you…you mean…_she_ was the one who took him away?"

"W-well…I…I just-" Frankie whimpered as Kathy, wide-eyed in stupefaction, exclaimed loudly,

"You _never_ told me it was _her_!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I-I _never_ knew! I swear, I honestly had no idea at all!" The flustered caretaker started sputtering apologetically. "I thought she was just an average social worker who'd just dump Mac off in the system, not …"

As Frankie struggled to explain, Kathy elicited a heavy sigh of painfully deep frustration as she buried her face in her hands.

"Oh My God…oh my God, after all I went through for you back then, after everything that…I" she began murmuring exasperatedly to herself as her friend whined,

"Kathy, please-"

"After _that_ mess, I nearly turned the entire office downtown upside down trying to find out where Mac was for you! Do you have _any_ idea how hard that is when you're only _two months_ into the job while already handling twenty cases? _Do_ you?" Kathy demanded before shuddering a little at the memory. "It's hard enough getting things done when you're low man on the totem pole like I am-"

"Kathy, I'm _sorry_." Frankie just continued repeating miserably. "I'm sorry, if I -"

"All I had to work with from you was that you remembered it was some lady with glasses who took him! Do you have a clue how many people at the office fit _that_ description? I was using every extra second I had to try and search, and it was all nothing but dead end after another dead end with a million leads to nowhere! You mean I just could've just tried to pry it out of my boss instead? She probably took care of everything herself, y'know-"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I had _no_ idea!" Frankie whimpered, cringing a little as she too recalled the terrible experience. "I-I didn't think that…I-I didn't know that she was your-"

"Well, she is!" Kathy snapped as she struggled to absorb this new revelation, and paused a few seconds to try and regain some composure. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just… I could've just gone to her, but no, and before I could get anywhere, _you_ had to almost be almost _killed_ by a…Christ, when I learned that you were in the hospital after you tried to…jeez, I almost had a heart attack that day, you know that? I swear, I almost-"

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry!" Frankie sputtered. "I don't know how else to put it, I'm sorry! But don't you see what the problem is? For all she knows, I'm just a-"

"Okay, okay, okay! Calm down! I get it! I get it!" Kathy interrupted as she tried to keep a level head in the midst of the rising tensions. "Okay, so the cards don't seem to be stacked in your favor right now, I get it! But I told you, all she or anyone else I work with ever wants is what's best for the child in every case, and-"

"But what happens when _I'm_ seen as the biggest threat to Mac?" Frankie beseeched as she pointed to herself. "That's the problem, she already thinks the best thing to do is revoke custody! She's already convinced I'm unfit, and because of that, all she does is push my buttons every time we meet to the point where I just can't help but-"

"Will you _please_ settle down?" Kathy pleaded. "I _know_ you're freaked out about all of this, and I would be too if I was in your place after what you've been through, okay? Considering what I do, the fact you're still my friend is practically a miracle. But I _know_ how the system works; you'll be all right. Everything's going to be _fine_, she'll see that she was wrong-"

"All she'll see is me screaming like a maniac because she'll let the accusations fly the second I step within fifty feet of her!" Frankie argued. "I told you, she's being a total fanatic about this, and I just can't handle the-"

"Frankie, she's not-"

"_Stop_ sticking up for her!" Frankie yelled, as her mercilessly dashed hopes forced her temper to flare uncontrollably.

"But Frankie-"

"She doesn't trust me because I can't control my temper around her, but I can't control my temper because she doesn't trust me! This _won't_ work out at all-"

"Whoa, calm down! It will _work_ out on its own, I promise. I know how-"

"No, it _won't_-"

"But-"

"Will you _please_ knock it off? Dammit, you people are all alike!" Frankie banged her fist upon the table and involuntarily yelled as she finally reached wits end, stunning her friend so effectively at first the young woman was at a total loss for words.

"…._What_?" Kathy finally answered.

"You heard me!" Frankie growled as she exploded. "You guys never admit that you're wrong about _anything_! I've got Corningston who's convinced I'm an unfit monster, and all you have to say is that everything's just going to be peachy-keen! Newsflash, I'm not an abusive psycho, and this mess is _not_ just going to work out for the best on its own! But no, you think just because you're supposed to do what's best for the children, _everything_ you do and think is the right thing, even though I'm getting told two different things while I'm getting jerked around -"

"Frankie, it _will_ be just fine-" Kathy tried to interject as her ire started to soar in the face of her friend's unrelenting stubbornness.

"No, it _won't_! See? See? This is what I'm talking about! All you do is keep on yapping about how 'it's okay, it'll be alright' and…"

"Frankie-"

"…You can't see the problem I have, just like that witch you work for doesn't want to see how -"

"Frankie-"

"…I'm sick of this! I'm sick of being force-fed all this garbage by you people! None of you can just wake-up and-"

"_Frankie_!" Kathy finally cut her off with a defensive snarl. "Do you have any idea what you're saying? This is my job you're talking about! This is my _life_ you're talking about! Earth to Miss Foster, we're not the Department of Mistakes-and-Dimwits, it's the Department of Social Services!"

"You could've fooled me!" the enraged redhead replied scornfully, driving the other woman further into a boiling fury as they practically went at each other's throats.

"Is that it? Is that what you think we are? Just a bunch of crazy morons on the state payroll?" she hissed, with twin infernos raging in her dark brown eyes as she descended into a deep fury. "I'm _not_ a fanatical moron, and neither is anyone I work with! We do it because we just want to help! You think we're just picking on you? We don't randomly crew with people for the fun of it or because we don't know any better! There's a reason you're in trouble right now, because God forbid we actually do our job and investigate possible abuse! We're not the moronic government-sanctioned baby-snatchers every numbskull says we are, and I know our system's not perfect, but I don't care what the hell you have to say, it still works, but _you_ don't want to think that because you won't get a grip…"

Insulted beyond compare, Kathy raged on, as she defended her occupation passionately, it didn't take Frankie to snap back to her sense long enough realize what a horrifically fatal mistake she had made with her earlier outburst. As she watched her one major hope fade rapidly by the instant, the redhead frantically tried to cool the flames of her own anger and regaining control of herself as she blurted out,

"Wait, Kathy! W-wait!"

"_What_?"

"I'm s-sorry!" Frankie began babbling as penitently as possible. "I'm sorry, I didn't know what I was thinking! I-I didn't mean to say that-"

"Excuse me? Oh, so _now_ I should just forget everything you just told me?" her enormously offended friend snapped, unconvinced Frankie's pleas were sincere. "What the hell was _that_ all about just now? Is _that_ what you think? Is that what I really am to you?"

Not yet willing to accept that she had ruined her chances, Frankie could feel the hot tears of despondency well up in her eyes as she begged shamelessly,

"No, no! Kathy, I'm sorry! I'm s-sorry! Please, I-I really need your help! I need you to vouch for me! Tell them that you know me, and-"

"Oh, first I'm like all the other good-for-nothing social workers, but now suddenly my kind is good for something for once?" Kathy snarled lividly. "Make up your goddamn mind!"

"Kathy, please!" Frankie whimpered hoarsely. "Y-you don't understand, I-I really need this! Please, I n-need you to tell them you know me-"

"For the last time, the system's going to work _for_ you without me trying to throw a wrench in the works! You'll be just fine!" Kathy almost howled in frustration.

"No, n-no I _won't_! Not on my own, I can't handle it! Please, I really need you to tell them that I don't abuse Mac, a-and that I take good care of him, it's just the stress here I can't handle! I-I'm sorry about what I said, b-but you really have t-to believe me, I-"

Her frantic pleas unfortunately were all for naught. Hopelessly swept up in a torrid rage, Kathy tuned out the caretaker completely as she wordlessly dug out a few dollars for her drink, slammed it onto the table, scowled wordlessly at Frankie once more, and then stormed outside without glancing back.

Not realizing yet that the sole waitress was warily observing her, Frankie allowed the tears to stream down her cheeks and buried her face in her arms with a frustrated sob as she was overwhelmed with crushing despair.

"Goddamn social workers…"


	7. Chapter 6

Ack, I'm sorry! HUGE apologies to all those who I told via review replies or PM's the next update would be soon. I'm sorry, finals plus the holidays just ganged up, and...ack, I'm sorry, my bad entirely.

* * *

Showing off a set of gleaming freshly brushed teeth as he plodded into the room, Mac smiled as he bid happily,

"Good night, Fra…huh?"

The pajama-garbed nine-year-old grunted bewilderedly once he realized that his guardian's bedroom was unoccupied, which was frankly a bit unusual. Considering the strenuous work she performed every day, usually he found her preparing for a good night's rest the same time as him. Even if Frankie did plan on turning in at a later hour, usually he would still be able to find her here, dutifully ready to make sure he went to bed on time.

Needless to say, he found tonight's absence a tad puzzling. But slight befuddlement wasn't nearly enough to deter him from skipping their bedtime routine tonight, which was usually observed almost religiously. Convincing himself she was just busy somewhere, but still not too far off, the child promptly made a quick exit and began walking down the hall, calling,

"Frankie? Frankie, are you-"

Suddenly, before he knew it the little boy was nearly spooked clear out of his skin and halfway to death before the entire house suddenly reverberated from rooftop to cellar with a window-shattering shriek of fury echoing from the floor below,

"I TOLD YOU TO GO TO _BED_! _NOW_!"

For Mac, as he nursed aching eardrums, it was literally painfully clear who was screeching so ferociously it seemed like she was just about ready to viciously dismember some unlucky soul upon the spot.

Fearing that something was horrifically wrong, the child bolted for the nearest staircase and began hastily descending as fast as his little legs could carry him. On the way down, a bolt of azure abruptly rocketed by in the opposite direction, yelping shrilly as it fled like mad to safety.

"I'm going! I'm going! I'm going!" Bloo wailed in absolute terror as he threw every ounce of energy he possessed into a wild dash, rushing onwards regardless of how many times he tumbled and fell flat on his face in his frantic haste.

As the badly spooked blob retreated out of sight, immediately Mac hastily redoubled his pace. As common as it was for Bloo to be scolded, rarely had the child witnessed his creation rebuked to the point where the little creature genuinely feared for his very life. Unsure whether he was plunging headlong into danger or not, Mac nevertheless dashed down into the foyer, where immediately he spotted an enormously haggard redhead, hard at work.

Murmuring darkly under her breath, Frankie didn't even notice her charge as she focused all her energy into her current task. As she kneeled, cleaning the floor with such ferocity it looked as if she were trying to scrub the very tiles from existence, Mac paused on the lat step for a few moments before finding the courage to inquire bravely,

"…Frankie?"

Instantly, her head whipped up as she glared daggers his way with a raging snarl.

"I _thought_ I told you to go to-"

Once she saw who it was, Frankie forcefully cut herself off in mid-sentence by biting down so hard upon her lip she nearly punctured the skin. While she desperately struggled to calm herself down, Mac whimpered worriedly,

"W-what's wrong?"

After barely managing to quell her own temper for the sake of the child, Frankie tried to put on a disarming smile as she answered as softly as she could,

"Nothing…n-nothing's wrong, pal, it's just…I already told Bloo three times before to get to-"

"I…I know he can really get to you, but… you hardly ever yell at him like _that_." the sharp-minded child pointed out meekly, sending her brain scrambling for an excuse.

"I'm…I'm sorry, pal, I'm sorry, it's just…it's just…that…uh…Mr. Herriman just _really_ loaded the chores on today and…and I got a little behind this morning when I went to…go…"

Just barely catching herself, Frankie abruptly ended lamely as she rubbed baggy eyes, "I…I guess I'm just getting a little…cranky."

Unable to detect her lie, Mac gazed bemusedly before asking reasonably, "So why don't you just stop? You've practically been doing chores all day today; I don't think I've seen you take a break since I got home. Why-"

"Because!" she snapped, before hastily softening her tone and explaining, "Because…b-because…I don't want to fall behind as everything piles up, and…and I…see, I…"

Once she noticed the skepticism adorning the child's expression, Frankie swiftly added, "But I'm almost done, really. Just… just give me some time to finish up here, and I'll-"

"Well, let me help, then." Mac instinctively volunteered. "Here, I can-"

"No, no, really!" she sputtered in a woefully pitiful attempt to assuage his soaring concern. "You…you have school tomorrow, and I don't want you to…pal, I'm all right, honest-"

"But you just said you're almost done!" he reminded as he plodded over to her side. "This won't take long, just-"

"Mac, _please_!" she suddenly snapped, forcing the befuddled child to halt dead in his tracks. Rarely did she pass up the opportunity for help with her daily duties, so to say the least, the boy was quite flummoxed. Meanwhile, catching herself yet again, Frankie hastily softened her tone and explained gently,

"I…I'm fine, really. It'll only be a more minutes, and then I'll head upstairs for the night."

Mac just eyed her bemusedly for a few seconds, forcing her to start fidgeting anxiously with her ponytail under his scrutinizing glare as she tried to plant on some semblance of a reassuring smile. Finally, he asked softly with tone thick with concern,

"…You promise?"

"Promise." She swore with an apologetic grin as she reached over to give him a quick hug. "Just…just make sure that if you see Bloo, tell him I'm sorry about snapping like that, okay?"

"…Okay" the little boy murmured as he finally conceded. After returning the embrace, he turned around began to ascend back upstairs, though not without pausing midway to check for good measure,

"You sure?"

"I'm sure, I'll be up in just a bit!" she answered. With this, Mac finally, though somewhat begrudgindly, went on his way.

As soon as he vanished form sight, she immediately fixated her energy right back upon her scrubbing, despite the fact that every muscle in her body ached in protest and begged for rest after all the vigor she had been pouring into her duties all day.

Trying to ignore her severe discomfort, Frankie doggedly continued onwards, becoming so eerily focused she didn't even notice the large rabbit who entered the room literally just seconds after Mac vanished from sight. As soon as he saw her, Mr. Herriman abruptly stopped, observed her for a few moments before demanding confusedly,

"…_What_ are you doing, Miss Frances?"

Surprised, Frankie shot upright with a start and began stammering, "Mr. H! I…uh…I just-"

"I don't remember asking you to clean up in here at all…or at least at _this_ hour." He mused aloud, before inquiring curiously, "_Why_ in the world are you up so late?"

"I…I just…I just wanted to…" Frankie stuttered, her mind racing for a somewhat believable excuse. When she could find none, however, she rested her hands upon her knees and began to confess ruefully,

"I…I thought that if I really made an effort to keep everything around the house in good shape…a-and…and then others can see-"

"You mean when your assigned caseworker sees how you're taking care of everything?" Mr. Herriman corrected as understanding quickly dawned upon him. The young woman grimaced, then nodded wearily.

"W-well…" she stammered. "I…I thought maybe that'd help show them that I…"

Shaking his head, the imaginary rabbit delicately got down upon one knee and reached for her bucket and sponge.

"Believe me, you'll hardly be better off if you just work yourself ragged like this. Here, hand me-"

"No, wait!" she protested stubbornly and she gripped onto her cleaning supplies tightly. "I'm almost done, just gimme a few more-"

"Not almost done, you _are_ done." The stern figment declared steadfastly as he tried to wrestle the sponge away. "Look at you, you're an absolute nervous wreck! I won't let you add one more extra strain to-"

"For God's sake, will you lay off and give me five extra minutes?" she snapped before her exasperated employer finally ordered her for possibly the very first time in his life,

"Young lady, you are to stop tending to your household duties this very instant!"

As he finally wrenched the sponge from her grip with one deft yank, he promptly deposited tossed aside as he starting scolding sternly,

"Good gracious child, keep yourself together! I understand that your anxiety over this whole matter is getting to you, but there's absolutely no need for you to work your fingers to the bone like this just because you think it'll help your position a little in this ugly fix. Do you understand? Drowning yourself in housework is _not_ the answer to your-"

Almost stressed to breaking point, with a furious burst of deep frustration Frankie suddenly lashed out at the nearby bucket, sending it flying across the foyer with a brief rainstorm of soapy water. Mr. Herriman abruptly stopped in mid-sentence, taken off guard while the young woman gazed straight into his eyes as she snapped furiously,

"I suppose _you_ have any better ideas!"

* * *

"…_Oh God oh God, where is she? Where? Where is she? Christ…"_

_The frantic mess of a young woman anxiously murmured over and over to herself as she rushed down the winding hospital corridor, with curly black locks whipping about as she glanced into every room she passed by. With her heart pounding like a drum in the rush of excruciating panic that threatened to consume her completely, she never paused for so much as a minute as she dodged about patients and hospital staff alike. _

"_Excuse me miss, are you looking for anyone?" a squat nurse finally asked as Kathy shot by. _

"_No, I'm looking for the nearest train station!" she snapped sarcastically. As soon as she realized though she was being offered some desperately-needed assistance, she quickly backtracked and skidded to a halt in front of the nurse, gasping raggedly, _

"_I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I…I just…see, I'm looking for my friend, and…well, I just found out this morning that she was admitted here like, a day ago after she…look, I don't really believe it myself, but her grandmother told me she actually got in a fight with…well, it's basically like an imaginary friend, but they're called extreme…uh, extreme-o…uh…-"_

_As the nurse gawked dumbly at her like she had just sprouted another head, Kathy groaned before babbling apologetically, _

"_Okay, okay, forget about that! Her name is Frankie Foster, she's a little taller than me, she has bright red hair, and she's probably currently with an eight-year-old kid, and two imaginary friends right now, a short blue one and one that's really, really, almost ridiculously tall, just like that one over there, see, but…wait, what the…"_

_Her eyes practically bugged to the size of saucers as she glanced back down the hallway, where an unmistakable beanpole of an imaginary friend was striding back from the vending machines, with a candy bar in hand. In an instant Kathy was sprinting like a madwoman along after him, waving her arms and shouting hoarsely, _

"_Wilt! Wilt! Hey, Wilt! Wilt!"_

"_Huh?" the startled crimson figment murmured as he craned his head around. "Ka-"_

"_Where's Frankie?" she blurted out as she latched onto his winding arm and started tugging impatiently. "Where is she? Where's her room? Is she okay-"_

_Suddenly weak but nevertheless joyous echoed out into the hallway as she heard an extraordinarily familiar voice answer softly,_

"_Why don't you ask me yourself?" _

_Immediately Kathy released her hold on the immensely befuddled Wilt as she followed the sound of her friend to a nearby room. _

"_Frankie? Frankie, I'm sorry, I just-WHOA!" _

_The second she stepped into the room and laid eyes upon its redheaded occupant, the color drained from her features and she let loose with a horrified yelp; Frankie looked like she had not only been to hell and back, but repeated the process several times over. Whatever part of her body lay exposed appeared to be covered in bruises or bandages, except her left arm, which was incased inside a heavy cast and sling. _

_Without wasting a second, Kathy bolted over to the bedside, jabbering frantically,_

"_Frankie! Oh my God, are you-"_

_Much to her total surprise, the instant she was close enough, Frankie sat up and threw her sole functioning arm around her friend in a warm hug, before whispering unexpectedly calmly,_

"_Glad you could show up so soon."_

_Utterly flummoxed beyond belief, Kathy abruptly pulled away from the unexpected embrace as she stared straight into Frankie's eyes for the very first time. _

_Despite the gruesome array of injuries that ranged from the broken arm to a black eye that was nearly swollen shut, Frankie was somehow wearing the fattest grin Kathy had ever seen in her entire life. Not a weak one put on merely to reassure her frantic friend, but a genuine smile that spread across the redhead's face from ear to ear as she nearly glowed with unmistakable joy. _

"_Fra-" Kathy nearly yelled in excruciating confusion before Frankie hastily lifted a finger to a mouth and motioned her to quiet down. _

"_Shhh! Not so loud." _

_While Frankie checked on the dozing eight-year-old boy curled up against her side and the slumbering azure blob on her lap, Kathy wordlessly bit her lip and stared dumbstruck at the peculiar scene for a few seconds, unable to make heads nor tails of it all. Never before had she seen her friend in such a hellish condition, yet almost paradoxically, never could she recall seeing her so gleeful either. _

"…_F-Frankie?" she croaked softly. "Are…are y-you…"_

_Frankie just chortled and answered tranquilly, "I'm fine, I'm fine…it's okay."_

"_Huh? But…b-but…" Kathy stammered, unable to believe her eyes and ears. "B-but…. oh my God, just look at you! Madame Foster was right, Mac actually tried to…and you actually fought a …I mean…I thought she was joking when…"_

_Overwhelmed by it all, the mortified woman set herself upon the bed and began to babble guiltily, "Oh my God…oh my God….Frankie, I'm so sorry, if I knew the little guy was right here in town the whole time, I...I'm sorry, if only I tried harder to figure out where her was, I could've-"_

"_Kathy, it's all right, you did what you could." Frankie just replied serenely with a sincerely grateful nod. "Don't worry, so I got a little banged up-"_

"_Little?" Kathy repeated incredulously, while her friend just continued on calmly, _

"_Don't worry, we're all alright…everything's going to be fine." _

"_But…but I…a-are you sure?" Kathy sputtered, unsure of what else to think or say at that point in her surprise as she rested a hand on Frankie's shoulder. Still grinning like an idiot and looking as genuinely ecstatic as could possibly be, Frankie elicited a short, contented sigh as she started gently stroking the head of the slumbering little boy by her side, while confessing happily, _

"_Trust me…I couldn't be better…"_

* * *

Kathy suddenly snapped back to reality once she realized that she had been continuously feeding her goldfish the entire time she had harking back to the past. Now, close to half a bottle of fish flakes floated about inside the tank. Meanwhile, her pet simply stared dumbly at the abundance of food, looking quite unsure of what to make of the magnificent bounty he had suddenly been blessed with. 

"Whoa, Flounder! Wait!" she yelped, as if he could understand her warning and restrain himself from attempting to eat every morsel until he burst. Wasting not a single moment, Kathy bolted into her apartment's tiny kitchen.

"Where did _that_ come from?" she muttered bewilderedly to herself as she searched her cabinets for a drinking glass.

Almost immediately she mentally kicked herself for asking such a stupid question; where _else_ would such a flashback have come from? To say that it had come from completely out of the blue for no reason whatsoever would've been absolutely stupid; she hadn't been able to keep her mind off of that morning's vicious fight or her best friend all day, thus the fact that particular memory suddenly surfaced shouldn't have been that big of a surprise.

What did come as a shock however was the fact that for the first time in hours, she had snapped out of the deep rage that she had been stewing deeply in. Still stinging sorely from that morning's argument, for most of the day she had wanted nothing less than to try and content herself with the belief that her friend's comments had been completely unjustified, and that Frankie alone had completely overreacted; the system she devoted her life to _would_ work, and justice would prevail.

Now, much to her dismay, because of that accursed memory Kathy found herself actually a little torn on the issue for the first time that day. If that encounter in the hospital taught her anything, it was the screaming obvious that Frankie cared dearly for her adopted "little brother" like nothing else, and was willing to do all it took and more if it meant keeping him safe. So considering Frankie's current unfortunate dilemma, could she _really_ accuse her horrendously stressed friend of over-exaggerating her plight?

After finally finding a suitable drinking glass, she jogged back into the living room and scooped her fish out, just as he started to try and recklessly engorge himself. As she set "Flounder" next to his tank, her eyes wandered onto the small frame set atop the same table, where inside lay a photo of two young women, one with jet-black curls and the other with bright crimson locks, each grinning from ear to ear as they rested their arms over the other's shoulders.

As she stared at the two friends in the photograph, Kathy sighed heavily as doubt started to crop up within her. Frankie _did_ love Mac greatly, and considering how much she cared for the boy who she wasn't even related to, it practically made the redhead a model of compassion. Unfortunately, no one was perfect, and the fiery-tempered redhead was no exception to the rule whatsoever, and when this Achilles Heel was combined with the fact she was being threatened to lose the child so close to her, well…

Kathy stared to gnaw upon her lower lip as she mulled furiously. Part of her still wanted to believe that the system she worked for, while not perfect, would still work in Frankie's favor. After all, that was their sole duty, wasn't it? To make sure children were in safe, loving homes? It was what _she_ had joined up for, at least. There was no point in taking a certain nine-year-old boy from a guardian who always made sure he was well cared for.

But then again, not a lot of people knew Frankie like her. She had to step back and be frank; what would any other social worker think of a redhead who was so mistrustful and so defensive about her family, she couldn't help but grow vicious as soon as she felt it was threatened? Frankie's eruption that morning had been particularly bad even for her; Kathy had seen her lose her temper before, but as she thought of it, those instances seemed to pale in comparison to the explosion she had witnessed earlier that day.

At this point, as difficult as it was to admit it, a pang of guilt had begun to jab her sharply. Maybe Frankie was right; all by herself, there was no chance for a happy ending. Perhaps she really did need help. And why shouldn't her own friend help her? After all, as back as she could remember, Frankie had always been there to bail her out when she-

Just before Kathy started to reconsider her grudge, and reclaim herself from her anger, suddenly, she recalled Frankie's words from earlier that day;

"…_You people are all alike…"_

"You people"…as in dim-witted government-sanctioned child snatchers who had no clue what they were doing, like her…everything she had worked for and represented, reduced to such scorn…by her "best friend," of all people.

As she remembered the dead-serious expression that had been stamped upon the redhead's expression as she angrily uttered that fateful phrase with a snarl, what sympathy Kathy had started to feel was instantly crushed under an overwhelming sense of betrayal. To think, that's all her supposed best friend really saw her and "her kind" as, regardless of all she had worked for and what she did every day to for all those families she willingly toiled for.

The bitter anger effortlessly seized full control of her in a matter of moments, and in an instant she was back atop her high horse. As a dark scowl took root on her features while the fury possessed her, she wordlessly reached over grabbed the frame, and roughly placed it facedown, obscuring the photo from sight.

As she started the laborious process of filtering the excess fish food out the tank, the fuming twenty-three-year-old grumbled under her breath.

"She doesn't have any idea what she's talking about…she'll be just _fine_…"


	8. Chapter 7

"…She was just acting so… weird." Mac explained concernedly to his pigtailed companion as they strode down the school hallway. "I mean, something's _really_ bothering her-"

"Duh!" Goo immediately trilled, as if the answer couldn't possibly be any more obvious. "Dontcha remember? Jess, her friend from college? Frankie's still probably really super upset and stuff, so-"

"But it's not like she's just moping around the house or anything like that, she's…I mean, I've never seen her so focused before on her chores, and all she's doing is stressing herself out. Seriously, it's getting real bad; when I saw her this morning, it looked like she hadn't slept at all last night-"

"Maybe she's just really, really, really, _really_ working ultra hard to try and to take her mind off it!" his friend swiftly suggested as she bounced along by his side. "Maybe she's making herself so extra busy so she won't have to think about how really, really, really, really sad she really is about her friend, like when my aunt told me how when she gets really stressed out, she always goes for walks in the parks and looks at the birds and flowers and stuff so she can try and forget about what's making her so unhappy and frazzled and grumpy in the very first place, and-"

As perfectly feasible as the little girl's theory was, Mac still appeared to be far from persuaded as they exited out the main entrance and turned in the direction of home.

"I…I _guess_ that could be it." He begrudgingly granted with a frown. "Still…I dunno..."

"Well, what do we know about her dead friend?" Goo asked. "Where they like, very, very, very, very, very, very, very close, or just very, very, very close or had they been in a fight or anything before Jess died and now Frankie's wracked with lots and lots of guilt 'cuz she never said she's sorry, like in a movie I saw on TV last week where this guy-"

"Honesty, I really have no idea." Mac admitted ruefully. "Frankie's never mentioned her before at all until now, and-"

"So then _ask_ her about it, silly!" Goo said impatiently with a roll of her eyes. "C'mon, how _else_ are you gonna know-"

"But I don't want her to have to deal with it anymore than she has to." The little boy protested reluctantly. "If it's really bothering her _that_ much, then I'm not sure how much good we'll do trying to get her to talk about something she doesn't even want to think about."

For a moment it looked like Goo was going to fire right back with another suggestion when she paused, mulled about his objection for a few moments, then almost instantly went quite crestfallen as she realized he had quite a point.

"…So… how do we find out what's wrong?" she whined. Mac scratched his head as he took a few moments to ponder over their dilemma. However, it took no longer than a few seconds before the sharp-minded child lit up with a grin as he snapped his fingers and blurted out excitedly,

"Kathy!"

"Kathy?" Goo repeated curiously and gawked at him wordlessly for a few moments before she quickly caught on. "Oh! Ohhhhhhhhhh! Yeah, Frankie's friend, I've met her a few times before! Ohhhh, yeah! Yeah! We can go ask _her_! We can ask her because Frankie said they went to the same college and stuff, and they've known each other for like, ever and ever and ever and ever! Yeah, yeah! So do we give her a phone call, or something?"

"Well…Frankie told me that during the week she can work pretty late." The boy explained. "With the way Frankie's been acting though, I don't want to wait until the next time she visits, because we don't know when that's going to-"

"Oooooh! Ooooooh! Wait, wait, how about this? How about we just go and get it over with right now?" Goo suddenly squealed enthusiastically as they finally made it to the sidewalk. "Hmmm? She only works downtown, doesn't she? Yeah, yeah she does! Yeah, we can just walk down there and go to her office at…um…social…social ser….uh…"

Almost immediately she remembered the frightful experience her friend had with that particular governmental agency, and after a great burst of effort, managed to put a lid on herself as she flashed an apologetic grimace and whimpered guiltily. Mac sighed heavily as he replied,

"I know, I know…she's a social worker. Don't worry, because if we can help out Frankie…look, it'll be worth it, I know-."

With only this teensy bit of encouragement, instantly Goo burst out beaming and did a little leap of excitement. "Yeah! Yeah, let's go and…and…wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on! Do you know where the heck it is?"

"I…I dunno, I've never been there before." Mac murmured, but this slight flaw in their plan hardly proved to be an obstacle before yet another burst of inspiration struck. "But Bloo might! During the day sometimes he goes downtown to the comic book store, and-"

That was all Goo needed to hear. Before he could utter so much as one more sound, the effervescent little one nabbed him tightly by the arm and took off down the sidewalk at a brisk jog, trilling excitedly,

"Well, _what_ are we waiting for?"

* * *

"…Thanks again, Bloo." Mac expressed his appreciation for what probably had to be the fifth time as the odd little pack trooped down the sidewalk. "I'm sorry that-" 

"No apologies necessary; I'm up for _anything_ if it'll stop the Queen of Crabbiness and her reign of terror." The azure figment replied darkly as he led the way.

"Lay off her!" Goo reprimanded sharply. "It's not _her_ fault, she's just really, really, really, _really_ upset about her friend, and-"

"Well, does that _really_ give her any right to try and almost bite my head off?" Bloo muttered sourly with a bitter scowl. "I mean, jeez Louise-"

"Don't worry!" Goo continued to brush his protests aside as she skipped along. "Once we find out more about why her friend's death is bugging her, we can help out, and she won't be all stressed and grumpy anymore and…hold on, hold on, you _do_ know where you're going, right?"

The little blob scoffed at her doubt. "Do I know where I'm going? Oh, _please_. Of course I do, it's right across the street from the drug store, right around…._here_!"

The trio turned the corner, and as Bloo immediately whirled around and waited expectantly to be showered with praise for his spectacular navigating skills, both the child were quickly beset with bewilderment and wordlessly gazed blankly before them before Mac murmured confusedly,

"'...Purrrr-fect Pet Salon'?"

"...And _where's_ the drug store?" Goo whined bewilderedly as she glanced about.

"Huh?" their guide grunted. "What, did you two take your stupid pills this morning? It's obviously-_augh_!"

As soon as he saw that they were indeed standing outside a pet-care boutique, the deeply humiliated little creature almost went as crimson as a strawberry as he hastily darted down the sidewalk, gesturing fervently as he sputtered,

"Ack, no, no! I mean...I mean, it's right across from the drug store, right around…right around…uh…hold on…almost there, just...um...hold on!"

The children had no choice but to follow along at a steady jog if they wished to keep up. After traveling another block, taking a left, a right, and another left, the trio turned yet another corner, and there it was; a massive, three-story brownstone building, bearing a large sign upon the front entrance reading in plain white lettering "County Department of Social Services."

As they all stood at the front steps leading to the door, catching their breaths, Bloo began to whine softly as almost immediately a few bad memories were stirred up in his mind.

"…Wait, so you're _sure_ you want to do this?" the imaginary friend asked as he rapidly became unusually anxious. Although he was indeed a bit nervous too, to say the least, Mac nonetheless put on a weak but sincere reassuring grin and gave his creation a quick pat on the arm.

"It's okay. What can they possibly do now that Frankie officially looks after me? Take me away again?" he joked.

* * *

The three had certainly been determined in their quest; so much in fact, that once they laid eyes upon their destination, they completely failed to notice anything else; not even the extremely familiar little bus decked in a dazzling array of colors sitting in the tiny drug store parking lot across the street. 

"…Would you like anything else, ma'am?" the cashier asked politely as she handed back the bottle of aspirin to her lanky redheaded customer. Frankie rubbed her droopy eyelids, then managed to plaster on an excuse of a smile as she stowed her purchase into her jacket pocket.

"No…no I think that's all. Thank you." She answered politely.

"Okay. Have a good day!" the cashier bade cheerily.

"You too." The twenty-three-year-old only murmured half-heartedly before exiting outside.

As she entered the parking lot, Frankie stopped for a few moments to try and massage her throbbing temples. If there was anything worse than the excruciating stress headache she had developed earlier that day, she didn't want to hear it, she mused miserably as she unsuccessfully stifled a gaping yawn. It was already bad enough that anxiety had gotten her so wound up that had barely gotten so much as a wink of sleep in the past few days, as shown by the fact that she both looked and felt like death warmed up. The last thing she needed was a sensation akin to someone pounding her skull with a ball-peen hammer.

Needless to say, the irony of her current location wasn't lost upon her; unfortunately, she had little choice, as this was the closest store to home where she could purchase relief for her aches. Groaning in severe discomfort, she lifted her head to glower angrily at the cause of her agony, sitting of all places right there across the street.

Right where a brown-hared boy, a little girl decked in rainbow shirt and cowboy boots, and a gumdrop-shaped imaginary friend all stood together.

As the badly surprise redhead's jaw nearly hit the asphalt, to her indescribable dismay the trio did the unthinkable, and made a beeline right for the front door.

"_Guys_?" she yelped hoarsely as they disappeared inside. "W-what are you doing? Guys, wait! _WAIT_!"

* * *

The interior of the local branch of social services was a chaotic maze of halls upon halls of identical cramped offices, towering overstuffed filing cabinets, and employees scrambling about in such haste no one seemed to notice the tiny group navigating their way through, searching about furiously for one particular woman. 

"Do we even know if she works on this floor?" Bloo asked as he glanced around. Mac shrugged as the headed down another narrow hallway.

"Your guess is as good as mine. But if we don't find her here, then we just head right up to the second fl-"

"Oh goodness! _Mac_?" someone suddenly cried in shock. Instantaneously the child stopped dead in his tracks, as did his creation while their flummoxed pigtailed friend walked right into them.

The little boy whimpered as his blood ran ice cold. As much as he didn't want to admit it with every ounce of his soul, he'd recognize that unmistakable voice, which unfortunately did _not_ belong to Frankie's best friend, absolutely anywhere.

After a considerable amount of effort, the petrified child craned his neck around and immediately confirmed his worst fears. There _she_ stood, garbed in the same jacket and skirt combination in that same shade of blue, with that pitch-black hair done up in an almost impossibly perfect bun, and those spectacles sitting perched upon her face through which she stared straight at him with those frosty blue eyes. The boy reflexively froze with fright, as his mind became an anarchic whirl of bad memories of being violently grabbed and forcibly taken to some unknown destination with his adoptive big sister and imaginary friend screaming in protest in the background.

Goo just blinked confusedly at the unfamiliar woman, as she struggled to figure out what was going on. Bloo however wasted not a single instant, and as soon as he got over his shock, he immediately darted protectively in front of is best friend and bared his teeth in a fierce snarl.

Despite the obviously cold reception she was receiving, one would've thought Miss Corningston had just won the lottery as she immediately burst out smiling in relief.

"Mac!" she gasped as she stowed her armload of case files aside. "Oh my, I-"

As soon as she took on step forward, the others instinctively took three steps back. Although Goo had yet to comprehend whom this woman was, she took her cue from her friends and decided the time for alarm was now. However, the social worker was quite far from dissuaded, and simply planted on a disarming smile as she squatted down to their height.

"No, it's okay, no need to be scared! You're all very, _very_ brave to come here to me on your own-"

"Brave?" Mac repeated bewilderedly, as the woman chuckled warmly and nodded.

"Yes, so very brave." She continued, speaking as gently as she could. "It's okay, you made it. No need to be scared, she can't get you here. Just settle down, take a deep breath, and when you're ready, you can tell me what's been going on at home. Okay? Mac, do you think you can do that?"

"…Huh?" the child croaked, as he failed completely to understand what was going on. "What's…what's been going on at home? Wait, what're you-"

Before the unpleasant encounter could continue any further, a tremendous clamor nearly startled them all clear out of their wits.

"Mac? Mac? Pal, are you in here? Bloo? Goo? Guys, where are you?" Frankie called as she suddenly sprinted in, searching about frantically. "Guys, what -_oh, no_!"

The color drained from her face the instant she spotted her spectacled foe, and immediately the pnaicked young woman skidded to a clumsy halt.

"Not one step closer, Miss Foster!" Miss Corningston quickly recovered from her surprise and ordered flatly. "You can't control them in here!"

"_What_?" Frankie cried. "Wait, no, they're not-"

"Mac, come here, quick!" the child welfare worker demanded. "It's all right, I promise! Just get-"

Much to her utter astonishment, before she could say another word, all three little ones took one look at the redheaded caretaker and immediately took cover behind her.

"Pal, _what_ on earth are you doing here?" the twenty-three-year-old gasped as she bent over and started to stroke Mac's head. The nine-year-old looked just as painfully perplexed as he yelped,

"What's she _talking_ about? Frankie, what's-"

"Now look at what you've done!" Miss Coringston accused angrily as her eyes blazed with conviction. "The child's too terrified to tell me a single thing! Now he's being forced to play the fool just so you won't-"

Frankie hissed as she quickly realized where this was going, immediately hurling her into a ferocious fury. Not in any mood to be ruthlessly denounced yet again, she curled her lips into a snarl, stomped her foot and exploded defiantly.

"I told you already earlier this week...and not once, but a dozen times," she hissed before clenching her fists and involuntarily shrieking, "FOR THE LAST TIME, I _DON'T_ ABUSE MAC!"

For the next couple moments, with the exception of Frankie's ragged breaths, not a single sound could be heard until the silence was finally shattered by a thunderstruck little boy's hoarse whimper.

"…._What_?"

Once she realized that the truth was finally out in the open, Frankie's anger swiftly subsided as she was temporarily overwhelmed by a surge of unfathomable horror. As her heart skipped a beat, she turned to the stunned child and tried to sputter weakly,

"Pal, I…I-I …"

Unfortunately, the horrorstruck girl was unable to get much further, as the unspeakable shock written all over the little ones' faces told her that her attempts to explain herself were absolutely futile as they wordlessly stared back at her in utter disbelief. Miss Corningston, meanwhile, having detected the sincere sense of bewilderment in Mac's voice, ceased her accusing, but kept her eyes narrowed in a suspicious glare.

"I have _no_ idea what this is all about." She acknowledged reluctantly, shaking her head. "But whatever it is, this does _not_ bode well for you at all, Miss Foster. All of you show up here without so much as a clue what's going on? Let me tell you this; _no_ guardian should let their confused charge wander aimlessly on their own downtown-"

Before Frankie knew it, her horror and guilt were completely crushed under a fresh wave of rage as her blood started boiling in her veins. Burning with fury so bitter she could barely breathe, she glared daggers as she instinctively went on the defensive.

"I am _not_ negligent!" she snarled, again clenching her fists so tightly her nails almost pierced her skin. "I am _not_ unfit, I'm not a vicious maniac, and for the last time, I am _not_ a child abuser! I'm Mac's big sister, and I take good care of him-"

"Is that so?" came the unconvinced reply as the woman stared directly into the infernos blazing in the girl's emerald eyes. "Then _why_ is it that you seem to be in conniptions every single time we cross paths?"

"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that every time we've met, you've either taken away Mac, _or_ threatened to do it?" the twenty-three-year-old hissed, as the little ones huddled mutely behind her. "This is my _family_ we're talking about! If you're so bent on doing what's for the best for Mac, has it crossed your mind once that _I'm_ what's best for him, whether you like it or not, you-"

"_You're_ what's best for Mac?" Mrs. Corningston replied so skeptically and so coldly, Frankie could feel the blood freeze in her veins.

"I-"

"Miss Foster, have you ever realized that I have yet to see you as so much as even a slightly fit guardian in any way, shape or form? Do you think your file or your police report gives me _any_ reason whatsoever to believe otherwise? How can I possibly believe living with you is what's best for Mac when I see nearly _nothing_ to back you up?"

"Because-" Frankie attempted to defend herself before she was cut off.

"Do you want to know what _I_ really see whenever I look at you, Miss Foster, no matter how much I try? Not a young woman, but a girl. A _single_ girl with the maturity of a three year-old, throwing tantrums and going into absolute hysterics whenever it doesn't seem like she's going to get her way. For God's sake, how long ago did you graduate from college? Two, maybe three years ago? You're still basically a child yourself! A child who can barely look after herself raising a child entirely on her own! Does that sound even remotely acceptable to you?"

"I-" Frankie sputtered, profoundly taken aback by the ferocity in the zealous woman's tone as she was scolded like a naughty toddler.

"Miss Foster, just look at yourself!" Miss Corningston exclaimed in appall, referring to the haggard redhead's pitiful appearance. "My word, what on earth have you been up to for the past few days? Have you gotten any sleep whatsoever? Have you forgotten that you have a small boy to look after?"

"Wait, please!" Frankie tried to protest as she starting rubbing her face, as if she could wipe away the heavy bags under her eyes. "You don't understand-"

"I think I do; you can barely take care of yourself, much less a little boy! Then again, should I even be surprised? I don't think you've had _any_ experience with _real_ parenting at all! I've checked into your background, Miss Foster, I'm more than familiar with your story. Your own mother and father perished when you weren't much more than a baby, leaving you where?"

"I…I…" Frankie, not expecting such an attack, could only stammer stupidly. "I-"

"That's right, at your grandmother's, where you were practically raised by imaginary friends, of all creatures, little more than the foolish creations of other children! How can you be so convinced that you're doing such a good job of parenting when you probably don't have a single idea about what it really is?"

The silence that followed was deafening. Frankie just stared mutely at her opponent, too stunned beyond belief for a reply as she was snapped out of her fury. As she slowly regained control of herself, it quickly became excruciatingly obvious to her that she had accomplished nothing other than to make herself appear to be little more than a total lunatic. Once again, she had unwittingly just performed the unthinkable, and had practically dug her own grave a few feet deeper, only fueling the zealous woman's convictions.

Once she began try to comprehend the nightmarishly horrific damage she had caused to her case, the roaring fire in her eyes were quickly doused by the hot tears that had started to well up. Miss Corningston just stared back, unmoved.

"Crying will get you nowhere." She warned flatly. "I've dealt with more than enough people pulling _that_ trick to try and gain some pity, and believe me, it never works. The investigation into your case will go on as planned."

"B-but…but you don't understand…" the young woman stammered hoarsely. "I'm sorry, I…I didn't mean to…if you'll just let me explain-"

"_Please_, Miss Foster, just take Mac back home." Came the exasperated demand. "I've had enough for today."

Beaten and broken-spirited, Frankie did as told, as she concluded there was little good she could do for herself here. Wordlessly she herded out the little ones, who were too stunned to do little else then dumbly follow along like sheep.

After the pitiful little pack quietly exited, just a moment later though, another young woman wordlessly appeared upon the scene. Looking quite stunned, she warily poked her head out into the hall, peered about silently for a few moments, then finally emerged from the copy room where she had involuntarily heard every single word of the epic argument.

With soft brown eyes nearly bulging clean from her skull, the staggered employee gazed dumbly to her ruffled superior, who barked irritably,

"_Well_?"

Kathy took one look into the icy stare, instinctively cowered a little, and after her mind raced furiously for a few moments, she finally blurted out,

"Ma'am, w-who in the world was _that_?"


	9. Chapter 8

The first half of the ride home was spent in dead silence. Not a single word was spoken, nor one sound was uttered as the passengers and driver all either stewed silently in their misery or simply struggled to try and numbly understand what just happened.

Frankie's hands trembled as she clutched the steering wheel, making it very plain she was hurting terribly from the merciless tongue-lashing she had just received. Compounding her agony though was the knowledge that she had failed her vow to try and break the news to Mac as best as possible. Now that he had just found out the terrible fate that possibly awaited him in the absolute worst way she could ever conceive, all the mortified young woman could do was wait and see how he handled it. It would probably do little use to check up and ask herself; her good intentions had caused enough damage as it was.

As she piloted the bus, every now and then she would pass a quick glance into the rear-view mirror to observe the heartbreakingly pitiful little huddle two seats directly behind her. Goo and Bloo sat respectively on either side of Mac, with the normally unbelievably chatty little girl saying not a word as she hugged her legs and scooted as close to her friend as she could, while the little imaginary friend actually had his little arms partially draped about his creator in a protective hold.

Both of the ashen-faced little ones were obviously still reeling horribly with shock while they desperately fought to comprehend what they just learned. Bloo, incomparably faithful when it counted, was already gripped by the overwhelming fear that history was about to repeat itself, and once again he was to lose Mac to forces completely beyond his control. Goo meanwhile strove in vain to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes as she lay currently trapped in the clutches of denial, unwilling to accept the fact that it was possible she would be without the one real friend she ever had.

All the while, right in between the two distraught souls sat who was undeniably the most devastated of them all. On the outside Mac was nothing more than a child stunned to the point of near-prettification. Inside though, it was a chaotic hell that was beyond description, as he was wracked with shock and the intense fear that his whole world was about to be turned upside down, yet again.

When he suddenly glanced up at the young woman driving the bus though, another ingredient was suddenly added to the witch's brew that was his anguish; fury. According to what he had just witnessed, they had been in trouble with social services for at least several days now. Why didn't Frankie tell him they were in such a horrid dilemma, even when he suspected something was wrong?

The more he mulled upon this, with every lie she had fed him for the past week that he recalled, the exceedingly betrayed he felt, and soon, his anger over the deception he had suffered skyrocketed to the point where that was all he could feel was the fury surging through every vein. Suddenly unable to bottle it in any longer, the boy pushed his friends aside, stood up, looked over the seat, and demanded,

"…Why didn't you tell me?"

Although she had been bracing herself for this moment, Frankie's heart still ached once she sensed the betrayal that saturated his tone.

Wracked by sharps pangs of guilt, the young woman murmured as she turned a corner, "Pal, I……I just -"

"_Why_?" the boy demanded. "You thought I couldn't handle it?"

"No!" she sputtered. "Mac, no! It's…it's just…it's just that…"

As she fumbled clumsily over her words in a vain attempt to explain her blunder, she could feel almost his piercing gaze skewer her through the back.

"It's just that _what_?" Mac asked flatly as the tears started to well up in his eyes.

"Mac, it's not because I didn't think you couldn't handle it….it's just…in the past year alone you've been through so much, I……I…I just didn't think it was fair that after everything we've faced-"

"So you lied to me?" the boy inquired accusingly, forcing her to uncontrollably wince.

"Mac-" she tried to beg, as hot tears began to trickle down his cheeks.

"So you made up that stupid story about a friend who never existed?" Mac demanded. "So you never told me why my teacher talked to me about my black eye, even though you know _exactly_ why? So-"

"Mac, I _know_ I didn't handle this well at all, all right?" Frankie strove to defend herself. "But I…I just…"

"Just _what_?"

"…I-I…I only did it because I care." She finished lamely, all-too-aware her answer didn't have a shot of convincing him.

"Care about me so much you can't even tell me what's going on?" Mac just snapped stubbornly at her woefully clichéd answer. Frankie clenched one of her fists tightly and banged it upon the steering wheel, forcing Goo and Bloo to jump in their seats a little.

"Mac Foster, that's _not_ what I meant, and you _know_ it!" she scolded harshly. "You watch your tone-"

"Then what _do_ you mean?" Mac snapped. "You actually think it was better that I didn't know about any of this? I thought you trusted me-"

"Mac, please, I _didn't_ mean for this to happen! I knew I had to tell you sometime, but…this was…I..I couldn't bring myself to…this was just so serious-"

"So serious you don't think I could've handled it if you told me?" he shot back.

"_No_!" she snapped involuntarily. "Mac _please_, I know I messed up, but-"

Unfortunately, it was no use for her to try and protest. The very idea that he had been so deceived was far too much for the little boy to deal with, and as his fury reached its pinnacle, Mac sputtered viciously,

"Maybe she was right! You have _no_ idea what you're doing!"

It was only after the words had rolled of his tongue though did he actually realize what he had just said, to who of all people. Moments later his rage was displaced by a wave of deep regret, and his tone rapidly softened to a barely audible squeak as he whimpered softly,

"F-Frankie, I…"

Unfortunately, it was all too clear that the damage had already been done; the boy's allegation had stung her deeply. As a tear trickled down her cheek, she glanced up into the rear-view mirror at the little boy. Mac cringed and whined,

"I-I'm sor-"

Suddenly, her gaze hardened, and with a spsnarl, the young woman ordered,

"_Not another word_!"

Obediently the mortified little boy did as bid, and hastily buried his face in his hands. As Goo and Bloo tried to stay out of the line of sight infuriated caretaker as they hugged their friend grimly, again the bus descended into a deafening quiet, broken only by the sound of muffled sobs.

* * *

The rest of the trip home was completed without a single word spoken, from the conclusion of the epic row on the bus to when they had all filed into the foyer of the Victorian mansion, with Frankie taking up the rear. After she closed the door behind her, her attention was focused immediately to the little boy standing a few feet away. As she glared daggers at him, Mac tried to wipe away the tears in his eyes as he murmured, 

"I'm sorr-"

"Go to your room." Frankie ordered flatly as she pointed up the stairs with a noticeably trembling arm.

"I-I didn't mean to!" the little boy sobbed. "I'm s-"

"_Go to your room, Mac Foster_!" the infuriated redhead, burst out yelling.

"I d-didn't mean to!" Mac only persisted, as twin rivulets flowed down his cheeks. "P-please, I…I-I…I-"

"_To your room_! _NOW_!" Frankie cut him off yet again with another fierce bellow.

As his tears flowed unchecked, the child just stared at her dumbly until much to her surprise, his eyes narrowed into a furious glower the likes of which she had never seen grace his face before.

"F-first you lie to me…a-and then…and th-then, you d-don't even let me…y-you don't…" Mac sputtered, until finally, hopelessly overcome with deep frustration that threatened to consume him on the spot if he tried to contain it any longer, he lashed out furiously,

"And n-none of this would've happened if y-you could control yourself for once in your life! _Now_ look at where we-"

"Mac Foster, go to your-" she only started to repeat herself before he stomped his foot and yelled angrily,

"This is all _your_ fault! I-I…I h-hate you! I-I _hate_ you!"

Never even in her worst nightmares would Frankie have ever expected him to say the unthinkable; it felt as if a red-hot dagger was plunged straight into her heart and then twisted, creating unspeakable agony. Unable to believe at first what she had just heard from the mouth of the child who she loved so deeply, she was snapped out of her fury, but only to plunge into a shocked silence.

Meanwhile, with warm tears of rage still streaming, Mac fled up the stairs, desperately struggling to hold back his bawling until he was out of sight. Without even passing the others a quick glance, Bloo instinctively followed, racing hot on his best friend's heels.

As the pair made a swift exit, Goo remained where she stood, confused and frightened by what she had just witnessed. Finally, afraid that Frankie would burst out screeching again in redoubled fury, the child whirled about and raced through the front door, lest she bore the brunt of the caretaker's rage.

The little one's hasty exit however had been for naught. Instead of exploding with fury, the young woman merely stood there silently for a few minutes, stunned to the point of immobility, with the tears streaking down her cheeks as Mac's words continued to ring loud and clear in her ears, cutting her to the core as she strove furiously to understand what she had just done.

Suddenly, she threw back her head and compacted all her frustration, her anger, her guilt, and the overwhelming sense that she was utterly powerless to halt all the forces in motion against her into one animalistic scream that echoed to the lowest depths of hell and the highest reaches of the heavens as for one moment, it was all just far too much for her to bear.

"_AAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHH_!"

* * *

The instant he heard the hoarse cry, recognition hit Wilt like a thunderbolt. Without even thinking, he dropped his glass of water, allowing it to shatter into a hundred shards upon the floor as he bolted from the kitchen and sprinted as quickly as he could onto the scene. 

"Frankie? Frankie, is that you? What's wrong?" he cried as he skidded clumsily into the foyer.

Alas, he was far too late; she had long since collapsed to her knees, with face buried in her hands as she was reduced to an inconsolable mess.

* * *

"…Are you _sure_ she can't come to the phone? I just…what? She's asleep? But couldn't you…okay, okay, I understand…yes…okay… honest, I'm so sorry for frightening her like that, I……yes, I promise, _never_ again…c-could you just check on her once more to…all right, all right…I'll try tomorrow…th-thank you so much for understanding…I'm so sorry about everything today…g-goodbye…" 

Frankie hung up her cell phone and tossed it to the other side of her bedroom with a groan. It had been no less than the third time today she had spoken to Goo's mother, who had been absolutely appalled when her grief-stricken daughter had arrived home. The first phone call had been little more than the outraged woman almost screaming continuously at the caretaker for nearly half-an-hour straight. Only after Frankie basically begged for forgiveness and sputtered out a barely comprehensible explanation did the girl's mother seemed to understand. Unfortunately, as far as she knew, Goo was still too frightened to even go near the telephone, no matter how many times the twenty-three-year-old called back in search of absolution.

With her nightgown rustling about her, the exhausted twenty-three year-old walked over to her lamp, flicked off the light, and then allowed herself to tumble backwards upon her bed, landing with arms outstretched and a despondent sigh. There were no words in any tongue that could describe the combination crushing sense of failure and excruciating guilt that consumed her. To say that she felt horrific for what she drove Mac to earlier would hardly do any justice in depicting her anguish.

Hope that she would get through this ordeal now seemed to be little more than naïve wishing; the investigation was still underway, and what would a certain overzealous social worker probably find when she stopped in for a surprise visit? Only the justification to revoke custody that she sought in the form of a betrayed little boy who now despised his hopelessly ill-tempered guardian.

She groaned, curled up onto her side and hugged her legs tightly. Even though hot tears of bitter defeat had already started to stream down her cheeks, Frankie was so caught up in ruthlessly berating herself that she had yet to notice that she was silently weeping.

Who else was there to to blame for this nightmare? It was she who could never properly control herself whenever it mattered most. It was _she_ who gave others reason to believe she was little more than an abusive monster. It was _she_ who was the mastermind behind her own downfall.

The heartbroken redhead continued to silently cry as she was nearly swallowed up by total desolation, aware of nothing except her vast grief. Thus, she didn't even notice the slight creak as her bedroom door was nudged open, nor even notice the lanky silhouette slide into the room until it inquired cautiously as it fidgeted nervously,

"…Frankie? M-Madame Foster wanted to be to make sure if…if you're doing okay, and-"

Without even thinking, she tossed her hands up over her face and half choked, half snarled,

"L-leave me _alone_!"

Her angry cry didn't stand a chance in trying to dissuade the stubbornly loyal imaginary friend. As her weeping escalated into full-fledged sobs, Wilt darted over, sat himself atop her mattress, and started patting her back gently as he sent his mind racing desperately for any words that could even alleviate her misery even the slightest bit.

"F-Frankie…"

Unfortunately, not only could the poor creature come up with anything, as dearly as he wanted to, she was so enveloped in her anguish she probably couldn't hear him as her despair enveloped her.

How could she possibly even think that she could turn this around? It was only her now; a foul-tempered, single girl, fighting a losing struggle all by herself. Who could she possibly turn to now when she only kept driving others away? She couldn't even count on the support of the one she was trying to protect at all costs, she remembered as Mac's words echoed in her mind.

"_This is all your fault…I h-hate you…" _

Even time she replayed the moment, the fateful phrase still tore her up like a thousand knives. After all, as much as it agonized her to admit it, he seemed to have spoken nothing but the truth. She was the root of this whole mess, and despite her best attempts, the only fruit of her reward she could reap from all the effort she poured into protecting a the child from her own blunder was the fact that he now probably abhorred her with a passion.

Now, despite the terror and misery the child was suffering through at that very moment at least equaled her own, and the fact that his bedroom was only right across the hall, she couldn't even comfort him; he had successfully avoided her ever since they returned home, with little wonder as to why. Despite all they had been through, now because she couldn't control herself for so much as ten seconds, he probably could scarcely bear to even be on the same floor as her after-

"…F-Frankie?"

Both she and Wilt nearly jumped clean out of their skins in surprise as the barely audible but unmistakable inquiry suddenly flittered in from the doorway. Wilt jerked his head around as the startled woman hastily rolled over and found to her immense shock, there stood the little boy who she had just convinced herself absolutely spurned her more than anything else at that moment, with, his distraught wreck of an imaginary blob standing right behind him. For a couple moments, they all just stared into one another's red, puffy tear-strained features.

"H-hey…" the flummoxed young woman finally broke the unbearable silence as she slowly sat upright on her bed. For a few moments, they all continued to stare at each other wordlessly until Mac, trembling with fright, whispered softly without a trace of his earlier fury,

"F-Frankie?"

"Yeah?" she answered gently, watching a solitary tear gleaming in the moonlight as it trickled down the child's face as he managed to whimpered in a cracked squeak,

"I…I-I don't want to go…"

As he burst out crying, Frankie instinctively hopped off her bed and dropped to her knees, all the while praying desperately she was no longer a hated liar in the boy's eyes. To her joy and relief, her over-exaggerated worries were all for naught, for her feet had scarcely touched the floor when Mac bolted over and threw his arms around her neck, as she likewise enveloped him in a tight hug.

"Frankie, I'm sorry …" he whimpered between sobs so powerful his entire body shook. "I…I didn't mean to say…I was angry and…I-I didn't…I-I…don't really…I'm s-sorry Frankie, I'm sorry…it's not y-your fault that they won't believe you, it's just…I'm sorry…I-I don't really-"

"I know you don't, pal, I-I know." Frankie hushed reassuringly as she stroked his head delicately. "_I'm_ sorry, Mac, I'm sorry… I shouldn't have yelled at you like that…I should have never tried to hide _any_ of this from you…I'm sorry Mac…"

While the tears cascaded unchecked down his cheeks, the distraught child hugged her tighter and burrowed his head under her chin, trying desperately to take advantage of all the refuge her embrace could provide as he started whimpering with fright.

"I d-don't want to go…I-I don't want them to take me …I don't w-w-want to go, F-Frankie…I d-don't…I want to stay h-here at home, with…with you and Bloo, and…I-I don't really h-hate you, I…"

Wracked with terror, he trailed off and after a burst of effort was only able to utter more than a barely comprehensible whisper. At first Frankie was at a loss for words, as if she couldn't believe it. Only after a moment though, she promptly tightened her embrace and murmured gently in reply,

"I-I love you too…"

At this point they both broke down completely, weeping freely in their shared distress. As Mac rested her head against his shoulder, Frankie glanced up, and although nearly blinded with tears, she still could spot Bloo perched in the doorway, unsure of what to do other than watch. Immediately she gestured for him to come over; their pain was his too.

The distraught figment needed no second bidding, and within moments the young woman had one arm firmly draped about each one, as Bloo clumsily attempted to hug both her and his creator. With the weepy pair safe in her grasp, Frankie managed to clamber to her feet and awkwardly carried them over to her bed, where she sat Indian-style atop her bed sheets as she continued to hold them close. Wilt wordlessly wrapped a winding scarlet arm about her shoulders as they grouped into a misery-stricken huddle.

In spite of her anguish, Frankie could at least take the faintest solace; even in the midst of so much gloom, at least the child was here for her to try and comfort, even if she could only assuage his gloom just the faintest bit. Determined to try and least stave off some of the despair that engulfed them, she tried to choke back the tears and clear her throat before she started crooning hoarsely,

"The other night dear, as I lay sleeping,

I dreamed I held you in my arms,

So I hung my head and I cried,

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.

You make me happy when skies are gray,

You'll never know dear, how much I love you,

Please don't take my sunshine away…"

Recognizing the familiar tune that she always liked to sing to him when he was ill, Mac whimpered as he hugged her tighter. On she went, through verse after verse, rocking back and forth as she held the two so tightly it was as if she'd lose them forever the instant she let go.

"…In all my dreams dear, you seem to leave me,

When I awake my poor heart pains.

So when you come back, and make me happy,

I'll forgive you dear, I'll take all the blame.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…"

Whether she continued singing for just a few minutes, or even an hour, she didn't know. Even when the two little ones had finally sobbed themselves into an uneasy sleep, the lullaby continued to reverberate out the room and echo into the hallway, as she sung so mournfully it almost became a dirge, lamenting the destruction of her family that now seemed all but inevitable to the despondent girl.

"…You'll never know dear, h-how much I love you,

P-please don't take my sunshine away…"

* * *

Quick note – yeah, I've used that song before, but actually I got the idea for _A Shock in the Dark _from a drabble I never posted where Frankie sings the same tune to Mac while he's sick. Plus, I just felt like that it really fit here. 

Just felt like clarifying! Big apologies to everyone who I told I'd have this chapter up last week!


	10. Chapter 9

As she lingered out in front of the redbrick elementary school, the little girl kept finding the need to furiously try and wipe the sleep from her baggy eyes. Lying in bed, half-blinded by tears and wracked with worry was certainly no way to try and get a good night's sleep, Goo noted somberly to herself, even though her mother had tried everything possible to try and console her near-hysterical daughter. Even though she had barely slept a wink though, ironically yesterday still felt like just one massive nightmare.

If only though, she wished dearly. If only it had all been nothing more than some terrible dream, and not some unthinkably horrendous reality that had caught them all by surprise. Goo was _still_ desperately struggling to try and comprehend it all, as much as it pained her to even think for even so much as a second that she might lose-

"_Mac_!" she squealed elatedly the instant she spotted him plodding down the sidewalk. Although she should've expected him to show up for school as usual, the poor panic-stricken child had worked herself into such a mess the night before, she had nearly half-convinced herself that social services would take him in the middle of the night, like some bogey monster. Breaking out into a relieved grin, Goo immediately shot off towards him.

"So what happened? What happened? You okay? Mac, are you all right?" she burst out chattering rapidly. "What happened after-"

She was only a few feet away when she realized for the first time since as far back as she could recall, Mac actually had company for his morning trek to school. The second she finally noticed the familiar redhead sauntering by the boy's side, Goo ground to such a sudden halt she almost fell flat on her face.

As the little girl instinctively backed off a few paces, Frankie involuntarily winced as she read the wariness written all over Goo's expression. She was _still_ frightened of her; but then again, the young woman could hardly blame the child.

Fortunately, such was exactly why she had made the trek alongside her charge that brisk morning. With a deep sigh, Frankie slowly got down onto one knee, looked straight into the girl's almond-brown eyes, and struggled to try and force the words out,

"G-Goo, I…I…yesterday, I…"

Goo would've had to be both deaf and blind to not see that the stammering woman was nearly drowning in a sea of remorse. Despite what she had suffered the day before precisely because of the young woman, it simply wasn't in the child's nature to hold a grudge, especially against one so sincerely repentant, and most especially against a friend.

Tentatively, Goo took a step forward, then cautiously hesitated for a moment. As soon as Mac gave her an encouraging nod, however, she immediately tossed her arms around the caretaker in a forgiving hug. Immediately, Frankie cracked a wan grin as she quickly enveloped the little one into a tight embrace and murmured in a barely-audible whisper,

"Thank you."

Unfortunately, her joy was woefully short-lived as the unpleasant reality of their situation continued to weigh heavily upon her like a stone strung about her neck. This tiny battle was won, but their tribulations were still far from over, with neither of them having so much as a vague clue how it was all going to end. As she tried to imagine the anguish still plaguing the children, almost instantly, without even thinking, her overriding maternal instinct forced her to start sputtering uncontrollably,

"I-I'm sorry about what happened…but…but don't be scared guys…things don't look so good right know, I know…but everything's going to be okay…it's going to be all right…"

As the comforting words flowed forth like a river from the young woman's mouth, Goo immediately perked up a little, drew back from the hug and blurted out optimistically,

"Promise?"

The instant the child emitted that fateful utterance, Frankie shuddered as her heart wrenched painfully. Right now, she desperately desired nothing more in the entire world then to be able to simply assure the children, and to actually believe her own words too. But how could she be sure that she wouldn't just be lying right to their faces yet again?

Much to dismay, the few seconds she had taken to contemplate the right reply had already taken their toll. She could see it clearly in their drooping shoulders, frowns of pained disappointment, and the distinguishing glimmers of hope in their eyes.

Just as she was beset by the all-too-familiar sense of failure however, the air was rent with the shrill chime of the school bells. Hastily concluding that she was doing more harm than anything at this point, Frankie took this as her opportunity to make an undignified exit.

"You…you better get going…" she murmured as she got up and headed off back towards home. However, she had barely gotten five steps before she suddenly found herself weighed down at her hips.

Startled, the twenty-three-year-old looked down to where Mac hugged her tightly as he flashed her a weak smile. Taking her cue yet again, Goo immediately darted forward and enveloped the redhead's midriff in a warm squeeze. At first Frankie was too stunned to even think as the two wordlessly declared their faith in her. Before the dumbfounded woman could respond at all, the two promptly undid their holds, flashed her a wan grin each, and raced off towards the front entrance, lest they got in trouble for being late.

For a few moments, the stupefied caretaker just stood there on the sidewalk, able to do little but gawk incredulously at the two children scampering off to class. To think that they were still able to trust in her, after all that she had done…

Frankie hastily whirled about and headed back towards home, lest someone saw her break down on the spot under her heartbreak. What good did it do the little ones were to put all their confidence in a woman who barely had any faith in herself anymore?

* * *

"No, it's okay, _I_ got it!" 

Frankie had barely emerged from the tiny utility closet when the gangly red figment materialized from nowhere to snatch the mop and bucket out of her hands with one fluid movement.

"_Hey_!" the startled redhead yelped. "What-"

"No, really, it's okay, I got it!" Wilt just reassured with a grin. "You were going to go mop the third floor hall, right?"

"Well…yeah, I-"

"It's okay, I can handle it from here! Really, no problem! You just take a nice break for a bit, okay?"

The dazed young woman didn't have the chance to reply before he ruffled her hair gently, flashed another smile, and was off in a heartbeat before she could realize what was happening. It had been quick, simple, but undeniably ingenious as she soon realized; she and he both knew very well she probably would've stubbornly refused any assistance had he just asked politely first.

Not that any of that had being unnecessary, for as usual he had just been looking out for her. Wilt had a point; she had once again been working herself ragged, as she was apt to do when upset, driving herself to the limits of her mental and emotional endurance. With stress now weighing upon her like a five-ton boulder, she managed to comprehend she _did_ need a break, and soon.

Minutes later, she was following the scarlet thought's advice, and crossing the foyer towards the large ornate office doors surrounded by a multitude of ticking clocks of all sorts, where she knocked before inquiring softly,

"Excuse me? Mr. Herriman?"

As usual, Foster's Head of Business Affairs was tending to the usual mound of paperwork lying heaped upon his desk. Normally, he would've immediately rebuked her for the interruption without even glancing up from whatever he was tending to. Today however, as soon as he heard her, the silvery-gray thought looked up and answered gently,

"Yes, Miss Frances? Is everything all right?"

"I…" she stammered. "I was just wondering if I could…take a break and maybe go out for…a walk, or maybe…a jog or…"

As he read the obvious signs of stress displayed prominently in her features and body language, the imaginary rabbit smiled weakly and replied,

"I doubt that will be much of a problem. Take as long as you need, and inform me when you return. All right?"

Touched, she tried to plant on a semblance of a grin as she quietly exited with a respectful nod.

"Th-thank you…"

* * *

Attired in a slightly worn blue shirt, purple running shorts and her trademark jacket to keep away the slight chill in the air, Frankie jogged down the sidewalk at a steady pace that befitted her liking. As a few beads of sweat trickled down her forehead while she huffed along, the young woman allowed herself the tiniest of smiles as the endorphins went to work. 

Maybe tomorrow she could try and take Bloo along with her for a shorter jog, or at least a good, long walk. This definitely helped someone, and a little bit of exercise certainly wouldn't hurt him, at least. It would also give the poor little creature something else to do other that mope around the house all day like-

Just like that, her thoughts were scattered and what little gain she had made were obliterated out the instant she rounded a corner and spotted a sea of tombstones. Immediately the young woman ground to a clumsy halt as within less than a moment she was reminded of the entire ordeal she was trapped in the midst of, and instantly she could feel her heart grow heavy with grief.

After all, how could she keep her mind off the fact it was painfully possible she was close to losing custody of a certain little boy when his mother and brother lay buried only right across the street?

As she became re-swamped with stress, Frankie cursed herself bitterly for being the only one to blame here. Since she had picked up it up a month or two ago, she had designed all her jogging routes to take her by here due to her habit of "reporting" to Mac's mother and Terrence. Bizarre as it sounded, Frankie enjoyed stopping by here every now and then, as she liked to think that the two departed souls could hear her as she related to how well Mac was faring.

Now though, even by glimpsing in the general area to where their grave markers were, Frankie could already sense the sharp pangs of guilt, stabbing her like razor sharp swords. She couldn't care less how absolutely bizarre it was to admit that she cared about what a deceased woman and her eldest son thought about her dilemma; she was so helplessly bound by force of habit, the young woman felt that it was almost her obligation for them to know what was happening. Living with the fact that she had deceived Mac was unbearable enough; there was no way she wanted make the mistake of trying again to hide the truth from those she felt deserved to know the most.

With a sigh, she waited patiently for the road to be clear of traffic, and then trotted across the street, through the heavy iron gates and into the expansive graveyard. After worming her way through the thick maze of tombstones, following a path she basically knew by heart at this point, she finally halted in front of two near-identical stone markers.

At first, Frankie wordlessly nibbled on her lip as she read over the familiar names chiseled into the stone slabs that marked the final resting place of Mac's original family. Finally she opened her mouth, but not even so much as a single sound came out.

What could she possibly say? How could she possibly break to them the unthinkable that after all she had done to try and provide Mac with the family he needed, all she had to show was failure?

After wracking her mind to the point that it started to ache, the despondent woman finally concluded that there was nothing left to her say but one think.

"I-I'm…I'm s-sorry…"

Immediately the broken-spirited young woman threw her hand over her face as she burst into tears, causing the entire cemetery to echo with the sounds of her weeping as it all became too much for her to bear. She had failed everyone.

As she cried shamelessly, hopelessly overcome by grief and despair, Frankie began to imagine what it would be like if the two deceased souls were really there to learn bout the horror the dismal girl had involuntarily set into motion. She could see Terrence, standing with jaw dangling agape in a state of shock no language could do justice in describing, as he struggled to comprehend the fact that his sacrifice was entirely in vain; Mac was living on only to suffer more.

As much as it wrenched her heart to shreds, that image was no much for the anguish Frankie experienced as she pictured what Mac's mother would by like. She could see the horrified woman now, wearing an expression completely identical to the one her youngest son carried just yesterday, bearing the rage that could be felt only after one has suffered a most grave betrayal. With tears of fury streaking down her cheeks, Frankie could see her clearly, pointing a perceptively quivering arm, pointing accusingly at the caretaker, with infernos of fury raging in her dark brown eyes as she cried,

"Frankie! Frankieeeeeeee! Frankie! _Frankie_!"

For a few terrifying moments, the tremendously startled redhead thought that the images conjured up by her grief-stricken mind had come to life, thus causing her to almost leap clean out of her skin with a shriek. After almost suffering a minor heart attack however, she quickly managed to understand that the burst of frantic yelling wasn't from a certain mother freshly resurrected form the dead, but actually from a fair distance directly behind her. Bewildered, Frankie jerked her head around to see such an unbelievable sight, for a moment she thought her senses were playing a trick on her.

Racing like mad across the cemetery, clad in a slightly wrinkled grey skirt and jacket, came an extremely familiar young woman, waving her arms and yelling excitedly like a maniac freshly freed from the loony bin.

"…K-Kathy?" the thunderstruck caretaker murmured in utter disbelief, as her friend continued to sprint towards her as fast as she could, all the while shouting at the top of her lungs.

"Frankie! Fra-_WAUGH_!"

Wailing in dismay, Kathy tripped over a gravestone, sending her flying into a belly-first sprawl. In an instant, the dumbfounded redhead was at her side, hefting her back to her feet.

"_Frankie_!" Kathy gasped, taking a few moments to gulp in some air before she babbled frantically, "Oh God, no wonder I couldn't reach you on your cell phone! What the hell are you doing standing around here in the middle of the _cemetery_?"

The painfully befuddled caretaker just stared back blankly, unable to think as she just replied stupidly,

"…W-what the hell are _you_ doing h-here in the middle of the cemetery?"

"I spotted you from the road while passing by in my car." her friend breathlessly answered. "Now, will you please tell me _why_ you're hanging around in-"

"…You…you saw me?" Frankie replied dully.

"You're a six foot tall redhead in a bright green sweater among three-foot tall grave markers; _not_ like you're that hard to spot!" Kathy explained snappily as her chest continued to heave up and down. "I almost passed right by before…" she paused to take a quick gasp. "See, I was just heading over towards Foster's-"

"Wait…over to…Foster's?" the flummoxed twenty-three-year-old murmured.

"_Yes_!" Kathy gasped. "I left as soon as I heard at the office! You're getting your first home-visit _today_!"

Instantaneously, her heart skipped a beat, and Frankie went as pale as a freshly fallen snow while unspeakable terror started coursing through her.

"…T-today?" she barely managed to stammer hoarsely. "You mean…y-you mean they're...wait, today? N_ow_?"

"_Yes, _Frankie! You need to be back home _now_!" Kathy cried exasperatedly. "C'mon, we gotta get you-"

Immediately Frankie was off in a flash, bounding over and dodging around gravestones with all the speed and agility she could muster, exiting the cemetery like a bat out of hell with her out of breath companion huffing close behind.

"Yeah, that's it! C'mon, let's get there as soon as….as….whoa, whoa, Frankie, wait! _Wait_! My car is right there! It's parked over _there_! You _don't_ need to run all the way back! The car is right _here_! Right _here_! For cripes sake, you just ran by it! _FRANKIE_!"

* * *

As the little sedan cruised down the street, the driver struggled to properly divide her attention between the road and her passenger, whose breath came in such alarmingly shallow and rapid gasps, it sounded like she was on the verge of hyperventilating. 

"C'mon, easy now…deep breaths," Kathy murmured reassuringly. "It's okay, just try some deep, easy-"

Rather than attempt to calm herself, the redhead started shaking her head so wildly for a few moments she had little more than a crimson blur atop her neck as she started to frantically mumble,

"I-I…I'm _not_ ready for this …"

"Yes, you _are_ ready for this." Kathy encouraged defiantly as she gave her friend a quick pat on the shoulder. "You're going to all right-"

"No, no I'm _not_." Frankie only shot back pessimistically as her heart pounded so hard it felt like it was about to burst clear through her ribcage. "I…I'm gonna blow this for sure, I _know_ it. I'm going to flip out at the drop of a hat, and…oh God, I'm just not ready, I'm not ready for this at-_OW_!"

Without a word of warning, Kathy promptly gave the redhead a quick tug on her ponytail in an attempt to snap her out of her panic.

"Oh right, just like when you weren't ready at all when Mac was first orphaned, and we all remember how you _never_ stepped up to the plate for _that_ challenge." she sarcastically added for good measure.

As harsh as her methods were, surprisingly it seemed to be just what the doctor ordered, and Frankie's breathing quickly eased noticeably as she flashed a weak smile, to which Kathy grinned wanly in turn.

"See? Don't worry, you'll be all right." She reassured warmly, to which Frankie started to murmur in reply,

"Kathy, I….…I-I don't know what to say, I…I just can't believe you're actually here…oh my God, I'm…I'm sorry about-"

"You couldn't help yourself; don't worry, it was just the stress getting to you." Kathy quickly tried to brush the matter aside.

"B-but-"

"Look, you've been threatened repeatedly that you might lose custody for almost a week; I sincerely doubt anyone can keep their cool with _that_ hovering over their heads." She countered flatly, making it quite plain she wasn't going to let the redhead blame herself one for anything.

Frankie attempted another excuse for a grin, but found to her dismay that panic was quickly getting the best of her again, and quickly she resumed trying to hold herself together. The two lapsed into awkward silence for a few moments, with some tension hanging thickly in the air before Kathy grimaced guiltily and took a deep breath.

"I'm………I-I'm sorry about leaving you to deal with this alone…" she murmured remorsefully as she anxiously drummed a few fingers on the steering wheel. "I…I'm sorry, I…I-I seriously thought you'd be okay if…cripes, why I actually believed _that_ load of crap, I-"

"No, but _I_ told you that-" Frankie tried to argue, to which Kathy countered incredulously,

"Whoa, whoa! Are you _serious_? Nuh-uh, don't even try it!"

"But I-" the redhead tried to counter before her friend shot back,

"You've been watching _my_ back since we were kids, but one of the few times _you_ need _my_ help, I went and -"

"C'mon, I haven't-" Frankie argued.

"Yes, you _have_, don't deny it! You're _always_ looked out for me, always, without question! But one of the few times _I_ can actually help _you_ out, I had to throw a hissy-fit and storm off, thinking everything was going to be dandy! For God's sake, I told you there was nothing to worry about, when it was so obvious I was wrong a deranged circus monkey could've figured it out!" Kathy groaned. "What the hell was I thinking when I told you everything was going to be fine if I just watched from the sidelines? You're my _friend_! You think I would've offered to help somewhat, but no, even though the agency was breathing down your neck-"

"But you only-"

"I was only an idiot about this, _that's_ what!" she tore into herself mercilessly, much to the redhead's bewilderment. "You've bailed me out more times then I can remember, and how do I return the favor when you get in a real fix? By climbing up on my high horse, _that's_ how! Frankie, I'm sorry, if I only pulled my head out of my own...damn, I _never_ thought the department could much such a call like _this_-"

"But you didn't help before because _I_ went off on you like a maniac." Frankie argued doggedly.

"I was _no_ better! I wouldn't get off the defensive, and didn't let the thought cross my mind for a second you were actually right about...I mean, seriously, someone practically needed to hit me with a shovel for me snap out of-"

"But _I_-"

It was about then that Kathy fortunately managed to realize another argument was really the last thing that they needed at this point.

"Okay, okay, so we both feel bad! _Enough_ of the 'Who's Guiltier' game, okay?" she declared firmly while she parked next to the curb outside of Foster's. "It's _done_, all right? Now we-"

The car had barely braked to a halt when Frankie nearly tore off the car door in soaring anxiety that had already tied her stomach into a knot the size of a cannonball.

"How long do I have before my caseworker arrives?" she demanded breathlessly as she clambered out and started rushing for the front gate. However, only after a few steps she realized that she was making the mad dash all alone. Bewildered, she skidded to a halt and glanced back at the car, where her friend was still sitting in the driver's seat.

"Huh? What, what;d you say?" she answered distractedly, while wrestling with something at her side.

"The home visit!" Frankie repeated frantically. "_When _is-"

"Oh! Oh, right! It'll officially start in...just a few minutes...I hope..." she replied.

"A few minutes?" the redhead repeated the vague estimate confusedly. Kathy looked up and grimaced apologetically before taking her friend completely off guard.

"Yeah, I'll get it started in hopefully just a minute...or two….I dunno, it depends how jammed my seat belt is…"


	11. Chapter 10

The instant her friend replied, Frankie honestly didn't know what to think anymore. She was beyond baffled, "flabbergasted" couldn't even begin to portray her surprise, and to say that she was astonished would've been such an understatement it would almost be a sin.

Shocked to the point of petrifaction, the dumbstruck young woman just stood frozen by the iron gates. Meanwhile, with a massive burst of effort, Kathy finally managed to free herself from her infuriatingly stubborn seat belt.

"Stupid piece of junk!" she groaned her arms in the air as she stumbled clumsily from the car. "I swear, that…uh…"

It was then that she finally her friend was so stunned she resembled a wax statue. Hastily forgetting about her seatbelt injustice, Kathy dashed to her side.

"Frankie?" she inquired worriedly as she grabbed the caretaker's shoulders and shook gently. "Frankie?"

When the redhead remained as motionless as before, Kathy started to wave her hand in front of her bugging jade eyes.

"Yoohoo! Hello? Helloooo? Anyone home? Hello? Frances Bridgett Foster, are you in there?"

"W-what…what's going on?" the other woman finally managed to murmur dazedly.

Kathy gasped and immediately her eyes nearly bugged out to the point to the point where it looked like they were just about ready to pop clean from their sockets. As much as it utterly dismayed her to admit it, in the midst of all the excitement and apologizing, she had completely forgotten to explicitly inform her friend about one _very_ crucial detail.

"Oh…oh God, I…I-I…" she sputtered in horror. "Oh God, I…I thought it was obvious that…well, you were…I-I planed to tell you up front, b-but…but I didn't expect to see you freaking out in the middle of the…so I thought I'd be better if we cleared up how…look, you caught me off guard when…"

Meanwhile, even though the painfully obvious answer to her question was literally right there in front of her face, it still seemed too good to be true for Frankie, as if this was all one of the cruelest hoaxes ever devised. Raising a trembling hand, she pointed shakily and attempted to ask,

"Y-you're…y-y-you're actually my…you're g-going to be m-my…"

To prevent her from stuttering until kingdom come, Kathy nodded wordlessly with a poor excuse for a weak grin. Still a flustered mess, Frankie gawked blankly for a few moments before she managed to stammer,

"_Why_ d-didn't you t-tell me first b-back at the cemetery?"

As she went flush from head to toe with tremendous embarrassment the likes of which was infinitely beyond description, Kathy took a deep breath and searched for a reply.

"Because…uh…b-because…I-I just…" the hopelessly embarrassed woman murmured until, unable to think of anything else, she finally answered, "Because…. because I'm an idiot?"

After what felt like an eternity of incomprehension, Frankie finally woke up to the unbelievable truth. As a ghost of smile appeared on her face as she emitted a ragged laugh. It wasn't a pretty sound, but it was genuine nevertheless as she choked,

"Kath…"

Before she could get any further, the indescribably overjoyed redhead burst into tears. While Frankie wept freely in her relief, Kathy heaved a deep sigh of relief as she spread her arms wide and drew close to wrap her friend in a comforting hug.

"It's okay-_UURRK_!"

Without a word of warning, it suddenly felt as if an anaconda had just ensnared her in its coils as Frankie promptly trapped her in a fierce bone-bruising squeeze.

"Thank you…th-thank you…" she whispered happily.

"It's…all right. …" Kathy gasped as the wind was squeezed clean out of her. "I-it's- _WHOA_! Frankie! Hold on!"

Her gasped pleas went unheeded as the caretaker, now utterly overwhelmed with elation, unintentionally hefted her a clean foot off the ground while continuing to constrict her tightly.

"Thank you…thank y-you…"

"It's no prob-_aaacck_! What…what are friends fo-_urk_! I-I…I should b-be the one who's-_ow_!" Kathy yelped as her attempts to reply were all for nothing with the incredible strain on her vice-gripped lungs, and she burst out wheezing in panic,

"Too much! _Too_ much! Overkill! Where's your 'off' button? _Ow_! Frankie!_Frankie_! That's enough!" she cried as it felt like her spine was about to snap clean in half. "That's enough! Let go! Let go! Puh-_leeze_!"

Once the redhead understood that she was about to unintentionally squeeze her friend to death out of heartfelt gratitude, she immediately put her back down and released her embrace. As Kathy clutched her aching sides and gasped for air, Frankie meanwhile lit up with a brilliant scarlet blush as she sputtered apologetically while patting her on the back,

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm _so_ sorry, I-"

"It's…it's okay…it's fine, really…" Kathy rasped, and spent the next minute or so catching her breath before she bent over to pick up her clipboard. "Now…shall we begin?"

"S-sure, of course, but…I just do't believe that…why are you…." Frankie exclaimed as they started strolling towards the front door. "…No,_how_ in the world did you…I-I thought that your boss was going to be my-"

"As far as I know, she was _supposed_ to handle your case personally. Guess it was a good thing the copier jammed on me, or I might've missed you completely yesterday." Kathy answered before grimacing guiltily. "I'm sorry, I…at first I honestly just couldn't believe what I was hearing at first and I was…well, by the time I snapped out of it, you had already left-"

"Missed me?" Frankie repeated. "You mean you heard-"

"_Everything_ she said." She replied, shaking her head in amazement. "Cripes, and I thought I knew what crazy sounded like… oh God, I'm sorry, I had no idea you were dealing with _that_: I would've flipped out too if I was in your place. Seriously, that…that was just insane, that's what it was! I can't believe she was treating you like a…a…sheesh, when you called her a fanatic, I didn't think you were being easy on her! No wonder you can barely trust anyone from the department…jeez, I really hope you don't think we're_all_ that crazy. Trust me, she does _not_ represent-"

"But that doesn't explain how _you_ got-" Frankie tried to protest before her friend gestured for patience.

"Hold on, I'm getting to that. Okay, see, I stepped into the hall, and…look, if the fact you needed help at that point wasn't obvious, then I'm the Queen of France. See though, I thought that if I only spoke up for you as a friend, my word wouldn't be worth too much, but vouching for you instead as a…see, I thought that…"

After trying unsuccessfully to explain, she sighed and finally said, "Okay, seriously, don't ask me _how_ I came up with it. Frankly I think it's a miracle a half-wit like myself came up with something like _that_ spur of the moment, but long story short, I just launched into the performance of my life."

"You _what_?" Frankie inquired curiously.

"Honestly, I just started bombarding her with questions, like I had never even seen you before, _ever_." Kathy explained. "I just went on and on, asking who you were, why someone as obviously unstable as you actually was looking after a kid all by yourself…oh my God, I must've ripped on you for five minutes straight at least. I was like a parrot, repeating everything she just screeched at you, that you were too young, too inexperienced, you know, like we were dealing with the travesty of the century here."

"And…she actually bought it?" the caretaker asked incredulously as she started smiling at the thought.

"Ate it up like a pig at an all-you-can-eat buffet; you got her too wound up to think better of it." Kathy boasted proudly. "Never in her life did she expect to meet someone who mistrusted you more than her; she made me spend the rest of the day reviewing your file, then officially reassigned me today. Now…what can _anyone_ possibly do when I meet you for the 'first time' and find out that you're not half as bad as they say?"

Nearly dizzy with elation, Frankie had to brace against the house and giggled weakly as they paused at the front doors. "I…oh my God, I don't believe that…h-how I can thank-"

"If anything, you shouldn't have to." the other woman chortled. "I'm not doing a favor as much as I'm actually doing my job for once this whole mess. I'm _supposed_ to make sure kids like Mac are in a good home, and if I let him get taken from possibly the most maternal person I know, well… I'd be doing one hell of a crappy job, don't you think?"

"I…I-I _still_ don't know what to say." Frankie kept on babbling, wearing a peculiar grin that expressed both gratitude and bewilderment. "Tha-"

"You're my friend, Frankie." Kathy reminded a weak laugh as they walked inside. "That means we have to look out for each other, right?"

The redhead had no need to reply, as her opportunity to prove her companion's words came literally just moments later. No sooner had they entered foyer, the room suddenly echoed with a hair-raising animalistic screech.

"YOU LEAVE US _ALONE_!"

With this valiant cry, an azure blur, roaring like a wild beast, soared in from seemingly nowhere as he attempted to pounce upon the social worker. Just before the blobbish missile reached his intended target, Frankie barely managed to jump in the way and snatch Bloo clean out of the air.

As Kathy instinctively stumbled back a few paces to a safer distance with a startled cry, the imaginary friend instantly began to try and struggle free from the redhead's hold, thrashing about like mad as he howled ferociously,

"No! You won't get away with it, you hear me? Not again! You're _not_ taking Mac away! You're _not_! I saw you park by the curb, thinking you could get the drop on us! Well, think again, because you can have Mac only after you pry him out of my cold dead hands! I swear, you lay one finger on him, and I'll-"

"Bloo, calm down! Calm _down_!" Frankie yelled try and make herself heard over his defiant screams while she battled desperately to keep a good hold him, lest he got free and attempted to maim her best friend in his over-protective rage. "It's okay!"

"No, it's _not_!" Bloo only screeched defiantly. "They're doing it again! Investiagtion inshmestigation, they sent someone over just to take away Mac! We can't let them! We _can't_!"

"You don't understand! _OW_!" Frankie yelped as he began flailing his little stubs indiscriminately in his struggle to get loose, a scored a hit right on her cheek. "Quit it! _OW_! It's okay, Bloo! Look, it's Kathy! _OUCH_! It's only Kathy! _Please_, stop for just one second and take a look! _LOOK_!"

Finally, he yielded to the redhead's frantic pleas and intently scrutinized the spooked young woman standing not too far off, using her clipboard as an improvised shield.

"…Hi, B-Bloo…" Kathy greeted cautiously with a timid disarming grin. For the next few moments, all was silent, save Frankie who was exhausted after the epic struggle, and now gasped heavily for breath. Finally, after an unbearably tense quiet, Bloo, wide-eyed in genuine surprise, admitted softly as recognition dawned,

"Oh…it _is_ her…"

"See?" Frankie murmured wearily with a smile as she started to set him down upon the floor. "I _told_ you so -_HEY_!"

She again just barely managed to grab him after he tried to lunge with a vicious roar. Kathy immediately burst out shrieking and pressed her back to the wall as redhead and blob started the intense fight all over again.

"Bloo, _what_ did I tell you? Calm down! You have to calm _down_!" Frankie begged as she fought furiously to keep a firm grasp upon him, while Bloo started howling again while fighting tooth and nail to get loose.

"No! You won't get away with it, you hear me, Kathy? Not again! You're _not_ taking Mac away! You're _not_! I saw you park by the curb, thinking you could get the drop on us! Well, think again, Kathy, because you can have Mac only after you pry him out of my cold dead hands! I swear, Kathy, you lay one finger on him, and I'll…"

* * *

It had taken quite some time to convince the fanatically loyal imaginary friend that Kathy wasn't a pawn in the grandiose conspiracy to separate him from his best friend. Even after he had been persuaded that she was working on their side, though, the blob was still extraordinarily riled up after working himself into a near frenzy. Luckily, Frankie had just the unorthodox technique to calm the figment after his failed preemptive strike. 

Now, as the two sat upon the stairs, taking a badly needed rest after their absurd ordeal, Bloo lay as docile and limp as a beanbag upon Kathy's lap while she rubbed his belly as her friend taught her.

"Aw," she couldn't help but gush shamelessly at the contented grin her former attacker wore. "Look at him, he's like a big blue puppy. Oooh, yes he is! Does he wike it when his bewy his wubbed? Does he?"

As the significantly calmed figment just nodded contently, Frankie blew a few strands of scarlet hair from her eyes and murmured wearily, "You have _no_ idea how I managed to figure that little trick out."

As she watched her friend coo at the imaginary friend, she couldn't help but inquire as she anxiously fidgeted with her ponytail, "So…are you…a-are you going to report this, or…or are you-"

"Yes, that's_exactly_ what I'm going to do, because we all know that imaginary blobs freak out _only_ in the presence of abusive guardians just like you. " Kathy replied sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. "Frankie, there's _nothing_ for you to worry about anymore!"

"But…I know, but-"

"Give me a break, will you?" The social worker implored. "Out of all people, _I_ should have some clue that Mac is perfectly _fine_ here, case-closed. Considering half of what that kid's been through, the fact he's always happy as a clam every time I stop by has to mean that you're definitely doing _something_ right. It's okay, everything's going to be fine! Just settle down-"

"Hey, its not exactly easy for me to mellow out after what _I've_ just been through." Frankie countered sourly with a scowl. "I've been working my fingers to the bone and stressing out all week-"

"Oh, stress and chores, like that's a _huge_ change to your usual routine." Kathy remarked sarcastically. "Sheesh! If you ask me, it sounds like _someone_ really needs a boyfriend-"

The redhead groaned. "Oh, we're _not_ going down there-"

"So _you're_ the only one who has all the trouble, while meanwhile I come home every night to dozens of strapping suitors lining up for blocks outside my apartment?" Kathy joked cheekily as she persisted. "C'mon, after what you just went through, it'd be nice-"

"You might as well tell me to balance Sweden on my head, because I'd have just as much luck. Besides, even if I _could_ find someone I think I'd like or even remotely have a chance with, you _know_ I get wound up into a nervous mess." Frankie grumbled.

"Oh, so you get a tad-" her friend tried to remark before Frankie actually continued.

"Plus, whenever I go out with anyone, I…I always kinda feel bad about leaving Mac home alone, and-"

Kathy immediately burst out snickering, much to her friend's annoyance.

"What? What's so funny?" Frankie demanded with scowl. Kathy continued giggling as she answered,

"Leaving Mac home_alone_? In _this_ house? That's impossible!"

"You _know_ what I mean!" she replied defensively. "It's just… I feel sort of guilty about…_hey_! Hold on!" Frankie snapped. "Quit it! I thought told you, we're _not_ going to-"

"Oh c'mon!" came the merry chuckle. "Just-"

"Nuh-uh! We're ending this _now_-"

"Hey, I'm only doin' my job. In case you just forgot, as of now _I'm_ officially responsible for you, and right now what we need to do is to get your mind off this whole entire mess, pronto and take you down a notch." Kathy explained calmly with a grin.

"But I-"

"Oh come _on_," she persisted. "Isn't it nice to talk about something _else_ for once?"

"…Does it _have_ to be my love life?" Frankie grumbled as she made a face.

"Anything's good considering the stress you've been under…and believe me, you _do_ look like you've been to hell and back." Kathy retorted as she promptly went ahead with the unorthodox therapy and chatted on. "Seriously though, _you_ of all people at least deserve a good date for once. Besides, as the boss told you yesterday, we can't have you being a single bachelorette, can we?"

She only continued giggling mischievously, even after Frankie shot her a dirty look and groaned irritably,

"I _said_ I don't…"

After pausing for a second to actually think about the topic at hand, she suddenly admitted softly, "Well…a night out would be nice…"

* * *

"….Oooh, how about that guy we always see biking around my neighborhood?" Kathy threw out yet another suggestion. "C'mon, why not? He's a hunk!" 

Frankie, looking actually genuinely relaxed for the first time in days, snorted with laughter as she lounged comfortably upon the stairs while they chatted casually.

"You kidding?" she chuckled. "I'd be babbling like a moron in a second if I even tried to say hi."

"You and me both, sister. But _that's_ the beauty of always losing track about how many drinks you've downed on a night out." Kathy joked. "Its hard to get nervous when you can't even remember your last name."

"It's also hard to tell how many nose rings a guy has, too." Frankie teased, and as the two dissolved into a fit of the giggles like a pair schoolchildren, a revolted figment stuck out his tongue as he clamped two stubs over the sides of his head.

"Ewww…girl talk…" Bloo grumbled in disgust.

"Well, if you don't like it then…" Kathy chortled as she stopped rubbing his belly, to which the imaginary friend squealed in panic,

"No, no, I'll be good! I'll be good!"

Frankie rolled her eyes as she nudged her friend. "Now if I had a dollar for every time he's said _that_…"

"Well, it'd be good-bye to _your_ day job then, wouldn't-"

Their chatter was suddenly interrupted when the front door suddenly swung open, allowing two forlorn little figures to enter the foyer. One of them, a somewhat morose-looking little boy, lifted his head and started to announce dutifully,

"I'm ho-"

In the midst of everything, Frankie had completely lost track of the time. Rather than be surprised, however, she instantly became afire with delight the second she realized the good news she head to tell him. Brimming with excitement, the caretaker bolted from her perch and yelled happily,

"_Mac_!"

The startled little boy had no idea what caught him more off guard; the humongous grin on his guardian's face, her gleeful ear-splitting shriek, or the enormous bear hug she scooped him up into only moments after he had stepped through the door. Needless to say, considering that Frankie had been little more than a broken shell just that morning, her radical change in demeanor left him utterly flummoxed.

"Hey! _Hey_!" he yelped as she planted a gigantic sloppy kiss on his forehead. "What the…?"

"Mac! Mac! Mac! Mac!" Bloo dashed from his roost on Kathy's lap and started racing around Frankie and his creator like a figment possessed, squealing ecstatically as he shared in the merriment. "Mac, you'll never believe it! Never! Never ever! Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever! Never ever! Never! Never!"

"Never what? Never what? Never _what_?" Goo started demanding as she swam in confusion. "What's going on? What? Did someone win the lottery? Did someone get a present? Did you get a fruit basket in the mail? What? What? What happened? What're we celebrating? What's-_WAUGH_!"

Hopelessly swept up in elation, Frankie bent over and managed to scoop up both little girl and imaginary blob. As she awkwardly and barely managed to hold onto them all at once, she burst out laughing.

"Our caseworker is here! Our caseworker is here! She's here! She's heeeeeerrrrre!" she whooped, twirling about once before the horrendously unbalanced load in her arms forced her to tumble flat onto her rear, causing the little ones to spill out of her grip. As Frankie only continued to giggle like mad, Mac's head spun with excruciating befuddlement, for that was the _last_ thing he'd expect her to be so ecstatic about.

"…._What_?" he managed to cry hoarsely before his imaginary friend and adoptive big sister descended upon him in a crushing family hug. "_OOF_! Wait-"

"What are you talking about? What are you _talking_ about? _What_?" Goo broke out protesting shrilly as she was instantly beset with panic. "Here? Now? As in right this very second, this very instant, this very moment while you're all blabbing on and on like a bunch of crazies now? Where? _Where_?"

"I'll give you three guesses." Kathy snickered as she strolled over. "And the first two don't count."

"That's _not_ fair!" Goo hollered as she exploded into total outrage. "You people are confusing me and Mac to death, because after all that freaking out we've been doing all day, you're saying it's now suddenly time to be all happy-hugs-and-kisses because some stranger from social services is finally here, which makes no sense at all, because why the heck are we supposed to be so giddy when these are the same awful, awful, awful, awful, awful, people who are trying to take Mac away? Huh? Huh? Tell me that! Explain that! Explain _that_! And I don't even _see_ any stupid dumb rotten social worker lurking about anywhere, unless you want to count Kathy standing around here, but that's really only because she…works…for …"

As everything finally fell into place in her mind, the little girl trailed off from full-blown rant into dead silence for a few moments before she grunted in astonishment,

"Oh….…._ohhhhhhhhhh_…………wait…wait, Kathy, I…I-I didn't mean all that stuff about being nasty…a-a-and awful…a-and stupid…and dumb, and…"

Luckily for the mortified child, Kathy wasn't offended as much she was extremely amused by the over-the-top tirade, and only broke out tittering while she assuaged the little girl's soaring embarrassment with a pat on the head.

Meanwhile, still trapped in the confines of the hug, Mac was sent reeling with shock, unable to believe what he had just heard.

"Frankie…is…is Kathy really…is she _actually_ going to be…" he stammered uncontrollably in utter amazement. As she could feel the beginnings of tears prickling her eyes, the young woman beamed brightly as she answered softly,

"I told you everything was going to be all right, didn't I?"

Once reality finally struck that the nightmare was indeed over, Mac found himself ginning uncontrollably along with her from ear to ear as within moments he was ecstatic almost beyond words.

"S-so…so we don't…w-we don't have to worry about…" he sputtered. Frankie laughed as she delicately wiped at his watering eyes with her sweater sleeve.

"Never again." She proclaimed, scarcely able to believe the words coming out of her own mouth. As she started to choke up, she turned to her friend and began to babble,

"Kathy, I-I -"

"You say 'thank you' one more time, and those words _will_ seriously lose all meaning." Kathy cut her off with a laugh before offering, "How about you promise not to hug me again, and we'll call it a deal, okay?"

"D-deal." Frankie half-chuckled, half-sniffled as she stood up, right before suddenly realized that their agreement had quite the gaping loophole. Grinning weakly, she glanced down at the little ones and asked deviously,

"Well, what are you guys waiting for? Aren't you going to thank the nice lady yourselves?"

"_Ackpth_! No, I didn't mean just you-_WAUGH_!" Kathy wailed as before she knew it, both the children along with the imaginary blob eagerly leapt forward and latched onto her like barnacles, forcing her to tumble backwards in a heap.

"Now, what do we say?" Frankie giggled as Mac had his arms wrapped firmly around the social worker's neck, Goo clung tightly to her stomach, and Bloo looked like he was squeezing her waist so hard, it was as if he was trying to split her in half.

"Thank you!" they chorused between their laughter as Kathy squirmed about like mad to free herself form the uncalled-for barrage of gratitude.

"Okay, okay, I get it! I get it, you guys are thankful!" she yelped miserably. "Enough! _Enough_! For the love of Pete, Frankie, this _isn't_ a Disney movie!"

Rather than call them all off, Frankie only tittered mischievously as she bounced up and down with delight.

"Nuh-uh!" she refused gleefully. "Wilt still doesn't know yet! I gotta go tell him too!"

"_No_!" came the fruitless protest. "You're _not_ getting the ten-foot-tall Mr. Nice Guy, you hear me? He'll have to thank me too, and I swear, if he ends up crushing my spine while I'm dangling five feet off the floor, I'll…"

Her objections were all for naught. Giggling like a giddy toddler, Frankie had already scampered off, leaving her friend hopelessly pinned to the floor by a trio of over-grateful little ones. Hopelessly trapped, Kathy groaned despairingly,

"…I'm going to have a couple broken ribs by the time I leave this house, aren't I?"

* * *

"…I don't believe it." Miss Corningston murmured incredulously as she sat at her desk and leafed through the report for at least the sixth time. Kathy, expertly acting as convincingly bewildered as she could, simply shrugged. 

"I'm just telling you what I found, ma'am. Tough to believe, yes, but…well, so far, it looks like the Foster girl checks out."

Her blatantly frustrated superior shook her head furiously, unable to accept it. "Are you _sure_? Did Miss Foster seem to be a bit rough at all with the boy? You _did_ take care to speak to the child, right?"

"To be honest...happy, healthy, well-fed, and not a scratch on him." Kathy answered, trying to sound as somber as possible as she sighed and then suggested, "I…I hate to say it, ma'am, but…I think we were wrong on this one-"

"_No_." immediately came the stubborn denial. "No, we _can't_. I've seen what she's capable of-"

"Only under extreme stress, while dealing with _us_. You have to admit, we _have_ been putting her under heavy pressure over the past week." Kathy reminded gently. "From what I saw, though, I frankly thought that she had quite a good handle on everything at home, and we probably have to admit, that says a lot considering for her job she basically keeps a whole house full of imaginary friends running like clockwork. Honest, ma'am, I've never seen anything like it, it was just…"

Pretending to be at a total loss for words, she paused for effect and exclaimed in her 'astonishment,"

"I never would've expected it, but…I was pretty impressed, actually-"

"But you reviewed her file; you know that she has _serious_ anger management issues-"

"Temper problem? Possibly." The young woman agreed. "But just because she has some nasty outbursts now and then doesn't necessarily mean the boy is in any danger. Actually, from what I saw…well, it was around the child that she was at her calmest. Now I know, I could barely believe it, but…again, I'm just telling you what I observed, and truthfully it looked like everything was fine-"

"_Impossible_!" her superior thundered. "Something's not right here, I…I could've _sworn_ that…how can she…"

As the older woman trailed off and started leafing through the report yet again, searching in total vain for the slightest bit of proof to confirm her suspicions, Kathy stifled a grin as she asked,

"Should I continue to keep on eye on her for now?"

Miss Corningston nodded firmly. "Absolutely. I want you to stop by whenever you can, and try and keep as close surveillance on Miss Foster, just in case that-"

"Actually, I was thinking of dropping in to give her a surprise visit tomorrow afternoon-" Kathy started to explain.

"It's not what you _think _you'll do, that's _exactly _what you're going to do. Remember, if you find _anything_ that seems amiss-"

"I remember the protocol; I'll report it to you as soon as I can." The younger woman finished smartly, playing the role of the obedient foot soldier flawlessly.

"Thank you." Her superior murmured with a heavy sigh as she struggled to absorb the completely unexpected news. "That will be all for now."

Kathy nodded respectfully, and wordlessly strode out into the hallway. Once she made the journey upstairs to her own cramped cell of an office, she plopped herself down in her chair, and promptly put her cell-phone on speed dial.

After waiting patiently for a few moments, she greeted the speaker happily, "Oh, hey Wilt! It's Kathy, and I just…hmm? She's busy right now? No problem, could you just tell Frankie that's we're still on for lunch tomorrow?"


	12. Chapter 11

Sorry for the delay! Also sorry that this is the last chapter for anyone who expected anything on the scale of _Wishing Only Wounds the Heart_. Sorry! I hope you enjoyed the story nonetheless!

I'll start posting new one-shots soon!

* * *

"…Hut….hut….hut…_hike_!" 

As soon as Bloo roared out the signal, immediately the front lawn of Foster's broke out into absolute chaos as the opposing team charged the defense line.

"_Go_!" the little blob friend bellowed before handing off the ball to his behemoth bullish teammate. Frightened into galvanization, Eduardo promptly stampeded off. At first, it looked liked an easy touchdown as everyone literally threw themselves out of the massive figment's path, with the exception of one child who was either incredibly valiant or absolutely mad as she calmly stood her ground.

Just before Eduardo inadvertently flattened her into the earth in his mad rush, Goo sprung high into the air, with pigtails flailing, arms waving, and a toothy smile spanning from ear to ear as she shrieked gleefully,

"_BOO_!"

Immediately, Ed erupted with a scream of surprise and threw his arms up in the air as he stopped dead in his tracks only inches away from the girl, who beamed triumphantly as she watched the ball tumbled into her outstretched arms.

"Thank you!" she squeaked politely before bolting by.

"_NO_!" Bloo howled with dismay as he watched his master game plan fall to pieces. As Goo raced off towards the opposite end of the lawn, Coco and her infuriated blobbish teammate sprinted off after the little girl.

"Get her!" Bloo cried as he led the fierce charge. Just before they were upon her, however, Goo just smiled sweetly as she skidded to a halt and unexpectedly threw the football straight up above her head, allowing Wilt to grab it out of the air with ease as he zipped by.

"Go long!" the towering creature shouted as he prepared to throw, while a lanky redhead dashed around him and kept rushing onwards.

"Throw it! Throw it!" Frankie hollered as she neared the goal line.

"Oh no you don't!" Bloo screeched defiantly as he started scrambling towards the young woman as fast as he possibly could, pumping his little stubby arms furiously.

"The only way you're going to catch that ball," he huffed as he raced along at record speed borne out of desperation, "Is over my cold, dead, bo-_OOF_!"

_THUMP_!

"Go for it!" Mac laughed encouragingly as he lunged from nowhere and tackled Bloo to the ground, pinning his creation beneath him and leaving Frankie free to make the catch.

"_NOOOO_!" Bloo screeched in despair and started clawing the ground frantically like a blob possessed in a futile attempt to free himself. "NOT _AGAIN_!"

"_TOUCHDOWN_!" Frankie jubilantly whooped as the ball spiraled into her arms. Immediately the triumphant caretaker spiked the football before breaking out into an impromptu victory dance in the end zone. As the rest of her team broke out cheering, Bloo's shrill whines rang out above the din of the celebrations.

"No! No! No! No! No!" the outraged blob howled heavenwards as he beat his fists furiously upon the lawn. "Ed, I _told_ you, this time you were supposed to _not_ be scared by Goo! _Not_! K-N-O-T!"

The furry beast whimpered and sheepishly shuffled his feet as he was chewed out by his infuriated teammate.

"I sorry, I sorry!" he apologized gruffly with a guilty frown. "I no help it though, Senorita Goo muy good at spooking me so bad…"

Wilt chuckled good-naturedly as he gave his embarrassed friend a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Ed, it's only a game."

"Yeah, it's okay, Eduardo! I just think _someone_ here needs to think up a new play for once." Mac teased with a smirk as he helped his creation back up. Once he was back on his feet, Bloo scowled sourly at the nine-year-old.

"It's not fair, _that's_ what it is!" he whined miserably. "It's just not fair! It's three against four, you guys outnumber us by like, two-to-one! It's just not fair!"

"Yes it is, uh-huh, so fair, yep, you betcha!" Goo objected happily, while nodding so furiously it was as if her head was upon springs. "Yeah-huh, it's _so_ fair! Frankie and Wilt have me and Mac on the team, see, but we're little, like really, really, really, _really_ little, but you and Coco have Ed, who equals like, three of Mac and me on platform shoes, which would be kinda silly because they went out of style in the 70's, so maybe we'd be better off wearing stilts instead, so anyway even if we were wearing stilts and standing on each others' shoulders we still wouldn't be as big and tall as Ed, and don't say it's not fair, because when we play you always, _always_ call Ed to be on your team-"

"Well…uh…" Bloo searched frantically for a witty retort before he narrowed his eyes and accused lamely, "It's unfair because _you_ guys are a bunch of cheating jerks!"

"Jerk? _Jerk_?" Goo repeated indignantly before glaring daggers. "Nuh-uh! _You're_ the jerk for calling us a bunch of jerks, you jerk!"

"Nuh-uh!" Bloo immaturely replied with a sneer. "_You're_ the jerk!"

"Guys-" Mac tried to cut in before he was immediately drowned out by an explosion of enraged jabbering.

"If I took out a dictionary right now, and looked up 'jerk,' your picture wouldn't just be next to it, it'd take up thirty whole pages!" Goo snapped. "Yeah-huh!"

"Eh? What's that?" Bloo shot back as he cupped a hand over a nonexistent ear. "I can't understand you, I don't speak jerk!"

"Oh yeah? Well, if they held a big jerk contest downtown, and you showed up they wouldn't let you in because they'd be all like, 'sorry, no professionals, you jerk', and…"

Quickly sensing that she was about to have a minor brawl on her hands, Frankie hastily jogged over to put and end to the vicious bickering.

"All right guys, break it up!" she scolded as she stepped in between the two. "Stoppit!"

"But she called me-" Bloo whined.

I said stoppit, and I mean it! It's _only_ a game. Look, if we'll have to redo the teams, then we will! Just cut it out, all right? Seriously, there's never any need for name calling-"

Apparently though, adults were exempt from this rule, for just as she had begun restore order, a cry rang out from the front gates, surprising the little group gathered upon the lawn.

Hey! Hey, Foster! Is that your real hair color, or did something bleed to death on top of your head?"

Oddly enough, Frankie only burst out grinning like a nitwit at the insult as she turned and replied cheekily, "Oh yeah? Better a redhead than butt-ugly!"

As Kathy burst out laughing as she strode in through the front gates, Frankie likewise joined in, thoroughly bemusing all the others as they watched the young women behave like a pair of mischievous schoolchildren.

"…Frankie?" Mac inquired bemusedly at the spectacle. The caretaker just tittered as she handed him the ball.

"You guys keep playing; the adults have some grown-up stuff to take care of." She chortled with a wink before jogging over to meet her friend.

"Hey!" she cried happily. "What are you doing here…at this…time of…"

Once she noticed Kathy's prim attire and familiar clipboard in her arms the joy abruptly vanished from her expression as Frankie stumbled to a halt gawked incredulously for several moments.

"Oh…_no_…" she moaned in disbelief.

"S-sorry…" Kathy quickly murmured apologetically with a wan smile as she fidgeted anxiously. "It's just-"

"Oh, what gives?" the despairing redhead protested. "I _thought_ you told me that this stupid investigation was _done_ with! For the love of-"

"Well…yeah, and so did I." her friend admitted truthfully. "It's just-"

"So what is it _now_?" Frankie groaned. "You _said_ that you had put in an appeal to end this already, and-

"I know what I said, and I _thought_ straight eight visits without anything to prove any suspicions of abuse would be enough for anyone." Kathy explained. "I swear, we're almost in the clear. It's just…look, before we could finalize anything, the boss decided to go for _one_ last surprise check-in, just to make sure-

"Oh my God, _when_ is it going to stop?" Frankie lamented despairingly. "Is she only going to get off my back if I'm sitting in jail and Mac's stuck in some-"

"Whoa c'mon! Relax, will you? For cripes sake, it's not the end of the world here!" the social worker pointed out. "All we just have to do _one_ more visit, and I honestly doubt this the time I'll take the little guy away just for a change in routine."

"I know, I know." The redhead muttered as she settled down somewhat, and the knot in her gut loosened slightly. "Sorry, it's just…y'know…"

"I _know_ you don't like this, and I'm not exactly giddy with glee here." Kathy grumbled. "But honestly though, what's the worst that can happen? As far as the boss knows, the best she can get to work this case has been doing everything she can to see if you're a threat or not. And if _I_ can't find you guilty of anything, then who can?"

"…You promise this is the last time?" Frankie pried hopefully after taking a few breaths to try and settle her rattled nerves. Her friend grinned.

"The harpy sure as hell isn't happy about it, but if she's anything, she's a stickler for the rules. If we get a report of abuse, then we investigate, but ff we don't have proof of abuse, we can't do single thing. Unless of course maybe today's the day I get lucky." She joked, getting a weak chuckle from Frankie, who finally seemed to calm down.

"Well, if it's the last time…" she murmured. "So...just the usual?"

"To tell you the truth…not exactly." The social worker answered honestly after a pause. "Since this is hopefully the last visit, the boss wanted to mark the occasion with something a little extra."

"…Say that again?" her friend inquired confusedly.

"See, the boss decided to try and make the most of this little last hurrah and hedge her bets by making me take someone else to come with-"

"_What_?" Frankie yelped as she was temporarily hurled into the throes of a minor panic attack. "Wait…you mean someone _else_ is here to-"

"No, it's okay!" Kathy hastily reassured, gesturing for the redhead to calm down before she worked herself into a hysterical mess. "Settle down! Just-"

"Settle down?" Frankie lowered her tone to a frantic hiss lest the others heard them. "How can I when-"

"No, it's all right!" Kathy persisted. "We're going to get through this! I got to choose who went with me, see, and-"

"But are you _sure_ that-" the redhead pried suspiciously.

"Seriously, I put a lot of thought into this! Don't worry, he's a new guy, but he'll _definitely_ see that you're all right. Honest, he won't jump to conclusions."

"…You sure?" the caretaker inquired warily. Kathy smiled as she tried to stifle a giggle, which went unnoticed by her friend.

"Trust me; he's fine."

"…I……I _guess_ it's okay…" Frankie reluctantly agreed with a wary grimace. "So, where-"

_THWACK_!

"_OW_!"

The football struck the young man square atop the head almost the instant he stepped out Kathy's car. Startled, Frankie glanced towards the front gate just in time to watch the fellow in the crumpled black pants and equally wrinkly jacket and shirt stumble about dazedly for a few moments. Before she could instinctively help him, her alarm abruptly gave way to panic once she spotted a little boy scramble by towards the scene of the accident.

"_Mac_!" the horrified woman yelped.

"It was an accident!" he cried while rushing over to the social worker to bombard him with apologies.

"I-I'm sorry!" Mac sputtered as he skidded to a halt. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hit you, I swear! We were just playing football over there, and…and my imaginary friend was about to tackle me, so I panicked and…and I just sort of threw it and…I _didn't_ mean to hit you, honest!"

Frankie held her breath as she frantically tried to decide if she would look bad if she didn't reprimand Mac. Before she decided though, much to the surprise of both her and her charge, as soon as the young man recomposed himself, he took just one glance at the guilt-ridden child and only grinned reassuringly.

"Ah…don't worry about it." He brushed the incident aside with a weak chuckle. "It's okay, it was only a bad pass."

"Really?" Mac smiled, as not too far away his guardian gasped in relief. Nodding warmly, the social worker retrieved the football from where it lay a foot or two away.

"It's not a problem." He chortled good-naturedly. "Just be thankful you're not like me; I used to hit my dad square between the eyes every time we tried to play catch when I was your age."

Mac laughed at the little joke, and accepted the ball back with a polite nod before scampering off, leaving the man to retrieve an almost absurdly disorganized file folder from the car. Once he had tucked it somewhat securely under his arm, he jogged over to where the two young women stood, with genuine confusion stamped all over his face.

"Wait…Kathy, is _that_ the kid that Corningston's been making you keep a close eye on for the past month?"

His co-worker tried to hide a sly grin as he approached and replied calmly, "Yep, that's the one."

Her answer surprisingly did little to alleviate his bewilderment, and the fellow looked as hopelessly befuddled than ever.

"But…" he murmured as he scratched his head, disturbing his already disheveled hazelnut hair even more. "Wait…so…why are _we_ here? He seems pretty happy to me. Does the guardian need any help with anything, or…well, it doesn't look like it at least, seeing that-"

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Kathy asked as she casually gestured towards the redhead standing by her side.

He looked up, and only then seemed to finally notice Frankie for the first time. After glancing straight into those emerald eyes, to her shock, he appeared quite surprised. He wasn't merely slightly startled though; he was genuinely at a total loss for words and after going temporarily mute, he just stared wordlessly like a deer in headlights for a few moments. While Frankie started to fidget anxiously, unsure of what to make of this reception, he finally managed to regain control of his vocal cords, and promptly started babbling nervously.

"Oh my God, I'm sorry! I…I-I was insinuating anything before, honest, I…I-I seriously didn't see you there, I just…I really didn't mean to…"

As the humiliated fellow jabbered on, the young woman swiftly felt the impulse to try and assuage his mortification. Strange enough as it was though, as she took stock of him, she found the words coming unusually harder to her than she would've liked. Even stranger though, she couldn't help but dwell on the fact that he had long since forgiven Mac for the football incident, and thus there was no need to be embarrassed anymore.

So why was it that her hair and complexion were still indistinguishable at this point?

"…I mean, seriously, the kid…uh, Mac, that's his name, right?" the flustered fellow asked as he checked the file in his hands. "Yeah, doesn't look like he's having any problems at all. And honestly, I don't think…I mean, usually I can tell up front if there's a problem, and I'm sure that-"

"N-no, no, it's all right, really!" she finally managed to blurt out. "It's all right, honest! You're just doing your job, and…look, no need to apologize, it's okay, honest!"

"…You mean it?" he mumbled, still sheepishly averting direct eye contact. Frankie looked right into his eyes and to her surprise she could feel the blood surge to her face.

"Yes, of course! It's okay, it's…it's…"

After trailing off, she toyed nervously with her jacket zipper for a few moments before she grinned weakly, feeling quite flattered by this point. "Hi…I'm Frankie…"

As they shook hands, the young man's face went noticeably flush. "Please to meet you, Fra-"

"Oh, wait, but don't think that's my actual name!" she blurted out in panic. "I mean, I-I wasn't named Frankie as a baby, like…like a boy or anything, it's really Frances, but…see I just prefer Frankie because…because…"

"No, it's okay!" he replied as he removed a form marred with a brown splotch from his folder. "I read your file this morning, so I…oh God, the coffee stain's still on it, isn't it? Gah! I'm sorry, it's just that this morning-"

"No, no, that's all right, it's…"

As the two continued on, incessantly apologizing to one another while averting each other's gazes like bashful teenagers, Kathy had long since given them some space, and now wore an idiotic smirk of triumph as she watched from a couple yards off. It wasn't long before the ridiculous spectacle had caught the attention of the others. While at first they all just gawked confusedly, Mac swiftly caught on, and immediately flashed Kathy a fat grin.

"Well, well, fancy that." The young woman joked with a wink as she ruffled the little boy's hair. "Looks like they're hitting it off…who woulda thought?"

Once realization struck Goo, the little girl started giggling ecstatically before breaking out softly into song,

"Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match…"

* * *

"Okay guys, I'm coming down!" 

Frankie announced as she clumsily started down the stairs in her high heels. To say that the very idea she was about to have her first date in months had reduced her to a nervous wreck would've have done any justice depicting her incalculable anxiety. As what felt like a flock of butterflies fluttered about like mad inside her stomach, she descended into the foyer, causing the three little ones and the lanky scarlet figment lounging patiently on a nearby sofa to smartly leap to attention.

"Here's your purse!" Wilt announced as he passed the little black leather bag into her hands. "I checked to make sure that you already have your cell phone in there, and your wallet, make-up, but I also threw in a few Band-Aids just in case, a small pack of tissues…okay, I think that's just about every-_oh_! Hold on, you have a speck of…here, gimme a sec…"

Like a ten-foot fretful mother, he immediately licked his thumb and proceeded to try and wipe her cheek, while she hastily covered her face as she recoiled.

"Wilt, it's okay, you _don't_ need to…wait! Wait!" she yelped as her eyes bugged in alarm. "My hair! My hair's all right, isn't it?"

"No, don't worry, it's okay! It's…wait, I'm sorry, just lemme…"

As the two over-fussed over the tight bun she had done her scarlet locks up in, the little ones observed a bit bemusedly until Frankie decided everything was set.

"…All right, I think that's good. Thank you!" she thanked her towering imaginary friend. Promptly he squatted down with a massive grin, and the two hugged tightly for a moment before she turned to the others. "Okay, final check; how do I look?"

As she spun about in her favorite black dress with a jangle of bracelets and hoop earrings, Wilt immediately flashed his trademark smile and flashed a thumbs-up, while Bloo just shrugged and muttered apathetically,

"Eh…it's all right."

"Nuh-uh! You're good! Better than good, beautiful! Spectacular! Gorgeous!" Goo gushed shamelessly as she quivered with excitement. "Like a magazine model! Ooooh, but not like the ones who are like, skeletons and stuff who're so twiggy they look like they climbed out of the grave and walked into a photo shoot, which would be freaky, but more like…"

As the little girl prattled on, Mac smiled happily and commented sincerely, "You look great, Frankie."

Despite the shower of sincere compliments, Frankie still appeared to be quite far from calmed. Gnawing nervously on her lip, she got down on her knees in front of the boy and began to explain fretfully,

"Okay, the number for the restaurant's on the fridge, and I'll make sure to keep my cell phone on. I promise, I'm going to try and be back home at ten thirty at the very latest, but just in case I'm not, call me-"

"You already told him earlier." Wilt reminded gently with a chuckle and a pat on the shoulder.

"Oh…right…" she acknowledged softly as she nodded in the lanky figment's direction. The second she looked back at her charge though, immediately she felt a twinge of guilt, and started inquiring anxiously,

"Are you _sure_ you're okay, pal? If you don't like what's going on, you can tell me. Are you really going to be fine with this?"

Still grinning, the boy replied honestly, "_I'm_ fine; are _you_ sure you're okay with all this?"

The well timed-question worked like a charm, and Frankie instantly broke out chuckling as she threw her arms around him in a tight loving squeeze. "C'mere."

"Frankie, it's going to be all right." He reassured again as he treutrned the hug.

"I _know_." She admitted softly. "But _you_ know how I feel when I leave you home like-"

"Well too bad, Mama Hen, because _now_ you don't have any choice." Someone cut in teasingly. A little startled, everyone in the foyer glanced up to spot a familiar face peering in through one of the windows.

"Babysitter's here." Kathy announced with a wave before she disappeared from sight, only to enter through the front door moments later.

"Kathy, for Pete's sake, you _didn't_ need to come over here tonight." Frankie, slightly flush, protested as she clambered to her feet. "Wilt can look after them just fine."

Her friend just smiled sweetly in defiance as the caretaker's imaginary friend corrected with gently, "Frankie, it's not them she's here for."

"He's got _that_ right, Miss-Gonna-Leave-Your-Babies-All-Alone." Kathy teased. "You of all people deserve at least _one_ night out all to yourself, if _this_ doesn't get you out of the house, I don't know what will. Also, it's either this, or I spend tonight at home with Flounder, and there's only so much company a goldfish can provide. So what else am I gonna do tonight-"

"Well, you could go out to the bars or clubs and stuff, but that would be poor planning on your part because you always, _always_ accidentally overdo it on the drinks, but not like you're a drunk or anything, see, but anyway, the problem is that Frankie wouldn't be there to help you out, or at least that's what _usually_ happens according to Bloo and Mac! Remember?" Goo blurted out, not realizing the question was rhetorical. In a heartbeat the young woman went silent as a stump as her cheeks started to shine with a scarlet glow.

"Um………yeah …" Kathy murmured, obviously uncomfortable with the fact that rarely had such truer words been spoken. After barely managing to muffle a giggle, Frankie hastily stepped in to put an end to her friend's plight as she promptly dove into a lengthy list of instructions.

"Okay, here's the number of the restaurant I'll be at." She started to explain as she pressed a piece of paper into her friend's palm. "I already talked to Madame Foster and Mr. Herriman, so they know all about how you're hanging out here tonight. Goo's mother is also letting her spend the night here, so they can stay up late, but just make sure they don't watch anything too scary on TV, okay? Also, they can have some snacks, but nothing sugary for Mac at all, or he'll get…well, don't worry too much about _that_, he knows what he can and can't have. If you have any trouble with anything, just ask Wilt here, okay? Any questions about anything?"

Kathy shook her head, snorted with laughter and asked playfully with an impudent smile,

"Just one question; when they're thirsty, do they prefer antifreeze, or just a tall glass of good old-fashioned dish soap?"

As the little ones burst out snickering at the wisecrack comment, Frankie groaned exasperatedly.

"Relax, will you?" Kathy laughed. "I _promise_; everything's going to be just fine while you're gone. There's _nothing_ for you to worry about, okay?"

The redhead just gazed at the sincere young woman for a few moments before she couldn't help herself but start chuckling.

"Jeez, Kath…you really didn't have to do this-"

"I told you," Kathy argued, "One night hanging out here isn't going to kill me-"

"It's not that!" Frankie attempted to protest. "I mean…_this_! All of this! You didn't have to do-"

"If by _that_ you mean 'I finally need to start returning the favor after the thousand times you yanked _my_ butt out of the fire,' then yes, you would be absolutely correct." Kathy chortled. "If you ask me, I say it's only fair; it's about time someone starts looking out for _you_."

"Yeah, but-"

"Just think!" she joked with a foolish grin. "At this rate, we'll finally to be even by the time we're sixty!"

"But…I know, but-"

The quick beep of a car horn followed by the distinct sounds of someone parking in front of the house abruptly interrupted them, and in a flash the redhead was beset with raging anxiety once more.

"He's here! He's here!" she yelped as her hands immediately flew up to start fixing her hair yet again, while Kathy clapped a hand on her back and laughed,

"So what the heck are you waiting for? Get going!"

Obediently the flustered caretaker bolted out the door without a word. Grinning jubilantly, Kathy nodded in satisfaction as she turned to her temporary charges for the night.

"Now that _she's_ finally gone-"

She got no further before Frankie, looking genuinely mortified as could be, scrambled right back inside.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she gasped apologetically. "I didn't mean to just dash out like that! Sorry!"

"Oh my God, what are you freaking out about _now_?" Kathy groaned exasperatedly, though only a moment later everything became clear as the redhead dropped to her knees and Mac scampered over to her.

"I _knew_ you wouldn't forget." The child laughed as he tossed his arms around her neck, as she likewise enveloped him in a tight embrace.

"Bye, pal." She whispered as she planted a peck on his forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too, Frankie." Mac replied as he returned the affection with a quick kiss on her cheek. Although it was supposed to be little more than a routine farewell-hug, Frankie apparently had been contently holding it for a tad too long, or at least that's the impression she got when Kathy grabbed hold of Mac and gently pulled him away.

"Leave it to _you_ to drag out your goodbyes." she teased.

"Sorry! Sorry, it's just…" Frankie murmured as she blushed deeply. "It's just-"

"Hey…don't you have _someone_ waiting for you, Miss Fussy?" Kathy coolly reminded as she started pushing her gently towards the door. Instantly Frankie's eyes bulged, she elicited a shrill yelp of dismay, before she whirling around.

"Bye!" she managed to sputter before dashing out the door and vanishing from sight.

"Go get 'em!" Kathy whooped encouragingly as she shut the front door. With Foster's resident caretaker finally gone, the young woman grinned excitedly as she removed the small backpack from her shoulders, opened it up and started sorting through its contents.

"Now then, before I was so rudely interrupted," She chuckled as she dug out a sizable container of frozen pre-made, artificially sweetened cookie dough, causing all the little ones' eyes to sparkle with delight. "Who wants to help me see if we can finish this all tonight?"

"Ooooooh! Ooooooh! Me! Me! Me! I wanna help! Me! Me! Me! Me!" Bloo squealed ecstatically, and without further ado the hopelessly over-elated blob darted over, snatched the tub from her hands, and bolted towards the kitchen.

"Hey, don't start without us!" the self-proclaimed babysitter laughed as she and the others followed hot on the imaginary friend's non-existent heels.

* * *

"…H-hi, Rudy." Frankie greeted in a noticeable tremor as she approached the sedan, while simultaneously trying to tame the flock of butterflies in her stomach. Luckily for her, she wasn't alone when it came to nearly being overwhelmed by an anxiety-attack as the young man started stammering the second he clambered from his car, 

"H-hey, Frankie. I brought you……some…oh, nuts! My bad! Oh, my bad! Just…just gimme a second, I only need to…uh…"

As soon as he realized he wasn't holding anything, the poor fellow dived back into his vehicle. Once she realized she was in good company, Frankie could feel her nerves settle considerably, and she actually managed a chuckle or two as she watched her date clumsily emerge after nearly crawling all the way into the back seat of the car.

Never would she have imagined she'd be going to dinner with someone from the same government agency that that…well, there was a first time for everything, wasn't there? Anyhow, although she had only known him for a few days, she liked what she saw, _especially_ the fact that the good-natured fellow had yet to be fazed by the "adoptive parent" factor, which was a rare bonus for her. Plus, if her best friend thought he was suitable, then as far as she was concerned, this was just as good as shot as any.

"Here, I…" he stammered as he climbed out. "Well, Kathy didn't tell me what you liked, so I just thought…see…"

As soon as she laid eyes upon the dazzling array of color that was the assorted bouquet in his hands, Frankie squealed uncontrollably and clasped her hands in delight.

"Oh, they're beautiful! You…you shouldn't have…"

As her blush nearly lit up the entire neighborhood, the young man grinned shyly and murmured, "It was nothing really, I-"

The moment was suddenly shattered by a sudden burst of peculiar racket emitting from the house. Startled, Frankie wheeled about just in time to watch what looked suspiciously like a blob of cough and chocolate chips fire out the kitchen chimney.

"_What on earth_?" she exclaimed in horror, and for a few moments, just gawked mutely at the sight before whirling around, taking a deep breath, and attempting to ask as calmly as she could,

"C-could…could you wait for just a couple more minutes?" she sputtered. "Please? Just a little bit more?"

"Uh…" the stupefied fellow just grunted in astonishment at the sight before replying softly with a weak, but sincere reassuring smile, "Sure, t-take your time…don't worry, I'll be waiting right here for-"

How she managed to move like the wind in high heels, he had no idea. But in a flash, Frankie had bolted off, and in record time she had sprinted up the walkway, raced into the foyer and made a beeline for the kitchen, shouting frantically,

"Is everyone all right...in…oh…my…God…"

It truly was a breathtaking sight to behold; bits of chocolate chip cookie dough lay scattered all throughout the kitchen, from floor to ceiling, covering everything and everyone, including five barely recognizable mix-splattered figures.

"…That…was _AWESOME_!" Goo shrieked delightedly, bouncing up and down in inexpressible elation as she picked chocolate chips from her pigtails. "Did you see that? Did you? Huh? Huh? When Bloo opened up the container and dumped it in the electric mixer, and when he turned it on and it shot everything everywhere like…"

As the hopelessly over-stimulated child chattered excitedly, nearby a dough-covered blob and his creator were locked in fierce argument.

"…Hey, how was _I_ supposed to know you were just supposed to scoop the stuff out and stick it in the oven?" Bloo protested.

"Because the instructions on the container _say_ so!" Mac snapped. "_Look_ what you did!"

"So I made a little bit of a mess-"

"Little? _Little_? Bloo, just _look_ at the…"

As those two bickered, an extremely frantic ten-foot figment was already wiping frantically at the wall with a dishtowel as he tried to tend to the hideous mess.

"Not okay, not okay, _so_ not okay…" he murmured over and over to himself before turning to the culprit behind the disaster. I'm sorry Bloo, but this is _terrible_! Look at all the-"

"C'mon, it's not _that_ bad." Bloo swiftly tried to pass off the blame. "Hey, if you ask me, it's the manufacturer's fault for this defective mixture-"

"Oh _no_ you're not!" Mac snapped. "You're not going to-"

"Mac! Mac! Mac! Didya see it! Huh? Lookit! It's all sticking to the ceiling and the floor and the walls and the cupboards, and-"

"I'm sorry Goo," Wilt interrupted as he shoved a handful of paper towel into her hands. "But this _isn't_ the time to-"

"Don't tell me you want to get rid of it _already_! Quick, someone go get a camera or-"

"See, _she's_ okay with it! So why sre you guys freaking out over just a teensy bit of-"

"For the _last_ time, Bloo…"

As the others all jabbered at once, in the midst of ithe pandemonium was one very stunned young woman, standing speechless with shock before she suddenly broke out wailing,

"How? How? In the name of all of God's creation, _how_? There is absolutely no way there was _that_ much in _that_ little container! Bloo, _how_ did you manage to-"

"…Guys?" Frankie finally murmured hoarsely. Once they heard her, the aghast perpetrators of the mini-catastrophe went mute, and in near unison all wordlessly turned to face the redhead. After a near half-minute of dead silence, Mac took a nervous gulp as he stepped forward, whimpering softly,

"H-hi, Frankie…"

Temporarily too stunned to think straight, Frankie instinctively scooped up the child and started to gently wipe the globs of dough from his face as she muttered,

"…What happened?"

"Nothing!" Kathy sputtered as she glowed from head to toe with a brilliant scarlet shine. "Nothing at all! Absolutely _nothing_ that can ruin your completely stress-free night! Just a little accident, it's all right! Really, this won't take long to clean up at all! When you get back, it'll be like no one was even here, we just…just…we just need to…go…there's _no_ need to get frustrated or anything, we just…just have to…get a mop, and…and…"

Quickly deciding that she wasn't fooling anyone, Kathy trailed off, blew a few curly jet-black strands from out of her eyes and begged, "Oh for the love of God, someone _please_ shut me up!"

The caretaker couldn't help it: it was all just far too much for her to handle. Still clutching Mac, she collapsed to her knees as the tears started to cascade unchecked down the sides of her face in twin rivulets.

As far as Frankie was concerned, she had never laughed so hard in her entire life.

**The End **


End file.
